Mirrored Fates
by Zerbinetta
Summary: One side of the story had been told... but you never know the full tale until you've heard both sides of a story unlike anything you've ever heard. Farah had her own journey to undertake in The Two Thrones...
1. the Princess

I am currently replaying The Two Thrones for the umpeteenth time and then I began to wonder – what had Farah been up to during the entire time she had been separated from the Prince, before she had met him? How did she end up in Babylon? Unlike in SoT, Farah had a journey of her own in TTT, a spiritual journey full of realizations as well as a physical one. She is a heroine in her own right, at times annoying and bossy, at times kind and supportive, but always anything but boring. And because of that, this story entered my mind.

X X X X

**Chapter 1 – the Princess**

X X X X

"Just call me... Kakolookiyam."

My fragile grip on the dagger in my hands faltered for a moment as the meaning of these words entered my mind. I wanted to say something, but had no words. No one in the whole wide world knew that word, no one except me and my mother, who had died when I was very little. Not even my father knew this little secret. Yet this stranger, who had entered my rooms during the dark of the night and proceeded to expose a traitor within our own ranks and kill him in front of my eyes knew it. Not only that – his glance and the timing and use of the word assured me that he was certain of the effect it would have on me.

I had only time to blink before he was gone from my sight, undoubtedly returning to the Persian armies, as he had intended when he told me his plan. Before the Vizier walked in on us and proceeded to disobey. But not before he managed to tell me the most fantastic fairytale I have ever heard.

It rivaled and defeated my mother´s tales in its originality and wonderfulness. Of course, it was simply a story… or was it? I glanced at the Dagger of Time. Ever since Father had returned with the Sands and the three artifacts of the Island of Time, I had felt unease. I believed the stories they told me, stories of creatures of Sand, purely because I had seen demonstrations of what the dagger could do. I have used it on occasion, purely to test its powers, and knew enough of the Sands to respect and fear them. And was it such a good idea, having them in our palace? Surely others would hear of the wonders within the Hourglass and would be foolish enough to attempt to claim them…

"Never fear, my most treasured gem." Father had said kindly when he saw the concern in my eyes as I eyed the items. "The Sands are safe. And they will not hurt you." He then proceeded to put a circular amulet around my neck. As I examined it, I saw the emblem on it was similar to the marks on the dagger and the hourglass. "This is for you. The Amulet of Time, it is called – it will protect you. While you wear it, the Sands cannot reach you, Farah. Remember that, if you truly worry so." He had smiled. "But now smile, little jasmine bloom, and don't let the worries of the old cloud your fair brow."

I had laughed then, I remember. I was little, after all, no older than ten, and ten is an age of joy, when youth still rules your mind. This night, however, I didn't laugh once. Not even when I told my strange guest that I didn't believe his tale. Yet now, now that he had so easily tossed at me proof – far more important to me than the dagger, which was tangible - of his words, I began to doubt myself. Could his words be believed?

Oh, surely not. I frowned. Certainly, his knowledge of the word meant something, but… I sighed. This wasn't making any sense. I would have to think on this. But I certainly wouldn't be telling anyone that a Persian prince had snuck into my chambers and told me this. If I didn't believe this tale – or did I? – who else would? However, he made sense when he had said what I should do about the now unmasked traitor.

I straightened the yellow fabric on my shoulder. I would tell Father that the Vizier attempted to kidnap me and bring me to the Persian army, so that they could blackmail Father and force him to submit. But, being old and unaware that I had taken the Dagger of Time for some reason I would yet create, he didn't realize that I would defend myself and I had to kill him in self-defense.

Yes, I nodded to myself, that I would do. It was a reasonable story, a believable one, and it involved none of that time-manipulating nonsense. Again, I stopped to frown. I remembered some of the situations he described to me as our adventures, and I found myself thinking what I would do and realizing that he had guessed more than correctly at what I would do. How could he have known that? How did he know me? Too many questions, too few answers.

I looked at the dagger in my hand.. Was it simply me, or did it glow strangely in the early morning sunlight? I examined it for a moment, wondering if it was possible, if by any chance this strange tale was more than just a story. My face was reflected by the blade.

An ordinary weapon, at the first glance.

At the second, I could swear that somehow, the simple piece of metal in my hands was mocking me.

X X X

"To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower.  
Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour."

- William Blake

X X X

I shut my left eye tight and focused on the target a hundred feet away from me. The arrow was in position and I carefully aimed its tip at the pillow handing from the tall palm tree, swirling slightly in the wind. It was more of a bag than a pillow, but it was stuffed enough to capture the arrow and light enough not to remain static. Careful, take your time with the shot, I reminded myself. But on the battlefield, there would be little time. Still, hasty shots missed often.

"Princess Farah!" I released the arrow abruptly and it soared at least three feet to the left from its target, landing in a bird fountain and scaring said birds away. I spared it only a brief glance before grabbing my bow and sprinting out of sight. Predictably, as I saw when I looked around the corner, my back pressed firmly against the wall, it was Manju, one of my servants. She was slightly younger than me and I considered her somewhat of a friend, but she simply couldn't understand why a princess didn't spend the whole day choosing her dress and accessories or choosing between suitors.

She never understood why I spend my days studying, practicing my skill with the bow and attempting to do things "that nature has given under the responsibility of men". She was too simple-minded for that.

But I was the only heir to the throne of India, and I knew that the hopes of our country rested on me. Thus I would have to take up all the tasks required, damn the gender separation. I would be like the Great Mother, Devi – I would be Durga the Warrior, I would be Parvati the Gentle, only Kali I would never be. That is why I trained from my childhood and tried to train the politicians to respect me, regardless of the simple unchangeable fact that I was a woman.

After so many years of battle, I have learned to fight through the field of politics, my goal being proving that women have just as much political power as men. And if I ever marry – which, unfortunately, might be a requirement – I will never allow anyone to rule over me.

And I certainly wasn't in the mood for a conversation that would undoubtedly lead to an argument over these things. Manju seemed to have deemed it her personal mission to convince me that I should simply want for a prince to marry and be happy to give the country heirs.

I think not.

I admit, I am different from most women, even most princesses.

"Good afternoon, my Princess." I didn't realize I had begun walking away from Manju, from the gardens, and mechanically had entered the palace – it took the elderly and somehow too smooth voice whose owner stood several paces ahead of me, obviously heading in the opposite direction, to remind me that I wasn't alone in the palace.

"Vizier." I said curtly, nodding in the same manner. I had never quite made up my mind about this man. He had been a servant of my father for as long as I remember, nothing but respectable, an elderly man that seemed almost ancient and almost frightening with his facial paint and liking of dark clothes. Nevertheless, he had treated me with respect even when I had been a small child. Always he deferred to me with a quiet politeness, but even now I remember being frightened of his eyes. They seemed somehow colder and crueler than the rest of him and they were in a sharp contrast with his velvety voice, making it seem as if each word was a carefully placed mockery which mocked you all the more if you didn't have the wit to spot it. One could only imagine what was going on in his mind, for he never revealed his thoughts to anyone. Not fully anyway. Needless to say, he was intimidating, and I believed that few ever saw what should truly frighten them about him.

A small smirk-like expression passed through his features. "Practicing your running skills, I see." he noted smoothly, taking in my full appearance with one glance, not in a lustful way, simply examining me. I felt a shiver which I had long ago learned to ignore.

"It isn't my fault that some of my servants fail to understand the importance and difficulty of my position." I said defensively, "I am the Princess of India and I will one day take over the burden of my father. I must be prepared for it in every aspect, so that I might make him proud."

The Vizier nodded briefly, his black eyes never leaving me, as if waiting to see if I would look away. "You are doing an outstanding job of it thus far, milady. But allow me to change the subject – I know better than enter a verbal duel with the most fierce of India´s politicians. I was wondering if your father has told you of his newest desire – he has decided to travel to a fabled island, somewhat of a myth, and discover its treasures. I believe it has been his dream for long."

My eyes widened, but I quickly recovered. Yes, I had heard something. But no definite plans, certainly no planned conquests! Dreams, yes, of a fabled Island of Time, where great wonders resided, wonders beyond anything mankind has ever seen. My father has a great weakness of wonders, be it artistic marvels or technical inventions – but he hadn't told me that he truly wished to go forward with this and accomplish his dream.

"Is his decision final?" I found myself saying, "What has he told you? I have heard… something, but at the time, Father wasn't planning…"

"It is decided, I believe, milady – after all, I am to accompany the maharaja to this island." He said calmly. My heart sank. One thing was my father not saying anything to me yet. Another was purposely not telling me of this until the last moment. that could only mean that he intended to leave me here!

My troubled thoughts must have been obvious, for the Vizier continued. "Princess, I understand you are unsettled, but your father cares for you too much to allow harm to come to you. As you have said, you are the only descendant, the only _heiress_ to the throne." He spoke the word heiress with a strange emphasis. There was concern there… and something more. But I could be sure.

I nodded, thanked him hurriedly and almost sprinted to the throne room, finding my father in the middle of a conversation with some of the captains of our armies. The men stopped talking when they saw me and all the captains bowed to me. Father smiled at me and moved to embrace me, but I took a step back. His smile faltered and he looked surprised.

"You haven't told me." I said, those words full of disbelief. Judging by his frown, he knew exactly what I meant. He had no words. The silence was worse than explanations. i shook my head. "Father, why pursue a myth, a fable? This island of yours might not even exist!"

"Zurvan told you." Father said, his frown deepening.

"That is inconsequential, I would have found out." I opposed. And he knew I was right. He was quiet again. "Father, take me with you." I had said it. It was my desire to go with my father, to seek glory at his side, to prove to him that I was able, to him and these soldiers that followed our conversation quietly, for it would be the only way they would understand that I had what it took to be what my father was.

"No, Farah." Father said. He didn't even consider letting me come. "Not because you wouldn't manage the journey, my little tiger." He wasn't smiling. "Because India needs a ruler, and you can prove yourself this way. You will be the keeper of the palace until I return, the lady all will obey. You will take my throne temporarily, until I return. And I know you will manage it and earn the respect and honor equal to that you would be granted on the battlefield."

Words ran dry. Never before had I been offered such a chance, such a trial. I would guide my people until their king would return… that was the greatest challenge I have yet faced. Ah, how clever my father was, how cunning! He knew well there was no way I could possibly escape from this trap, no way I could refuse. And he knew I realized it. He wrapped his arms around me and I clung to his chest helplessly, still trying to comprehend what was happening.

"When will you return?" I heard the whisper leave my lips.

"The Island's exact location hasn't yet been marked on the map, but my best sailors have seen a strange island only a few weeks sailing away from here. Three months, if things go well."

I closed my eyes. "Will I manage it without you, Father?"

"Farah, you have never failed me. The people believe in you, you are their princess. You will rule them even better than I would." He withdrew and kissed my forehead with a smile. "Don't be so grim, little lotus. We will return and bring treasure with us. And not all of us will leave. Several units will remain, under your direct command, to defend the city, if necessary. Although I´m certain you would manage even on your own."

I nodded, ignoring the tears falling from my eyes. Then, I frowned one last time. I could play one last card. "Why does Zurvan get to go?"

"Old age, nothing to lose, a small bit of knowledge of the ancient myths and a piece of advice I can yet hand out, milady." The Vizier said from behind me, making me turn in my father's embrace. He bowed as he approached and rose when my father motioned him to do so.

"I didn't mean any disrespect, Vizier." I said, slightly ashamed now. "I offer my apologies if I offended you."

"Youth sees all with clear eyes, Princess. Perhaps too clearly for us old. But I accept the offered, if I may." He said with something as close to a smile as his face could manage. Still, it wasn't a smile, more like a mockery of one.

All too soon, I realized that this was the day of their departure and found myself saying my farewells to Father and the armies that went with him. Symbolically, Father had placed the crown on my head for a moment before the final farewell, indicating that I now reigned over the palace. I watched from the high towers of the palace as they left and disappeared into the jungles.

Truly, it took months until Father returned, as had been estimated. And he returned alive, healthy, not having lost any men. It seemed that they had found the island deserted… but its treasures still present. An empty hourglass, a dagger and a staff were the most prominent among them, but the ancient books were far greater in number and in my eyes, in value as well. I spent hours reading them – those I could understand, anyway – learning and relaxing both.

Yet I also spent countless hours examining the hourglass, or simply staring at it, pondering the absence of the sands within. As a result, Father eventually proclaimed that if I loved looking at the hourglass so, he would give it to me. Formally, only, because I found it too grand and big for my quarters, but I enjoyed the fact that something so beautiful belonged to me. The staff had been given to the Vizier, since he had hinted he could use it for magical purposes. The dagger remained with the hourglass, locked away in the treasure vaults of the palace. It took weeks until I turned my attention to it, having seen the hourglass from every angle, at all times of the day.

When I looked at it, it seemed an ordinary dagger. When I took it in my hands, I felt the sand within – later, I determined its use.

For some reason, I had the feeling I had lived this moment before.


	2. the Capture

Thank you for the kind reviews! I've added some well-known poetry by William Blake to separate the two scenes in the previous chapter and replaced the word "marines" for "sailors", as has been suggested. Hopefully, this chapter will be clearer. It is slightly shorter than the last one, but I think it's more effective because of that. No Prince yet, plus beware – this isn't exactly a happy chapter.

X X X

**Chapter 2 – the Capture**

X X X X

Several years passed since my father returned from the Island of Time. It was a time of tranquil peace for India and for me, a time to mature and grow a little wiser. I was still the brash Farah of old, but I have gained a certain majesty, I suppose, when I outgrew my teenage years. I was now twenty two, my next birthday coming soon, a grown woman by all laws of the world, a child only in the loving eyes of my father. It was one of the reasons why he never forced me into marriage or courting, knowing me far too well.

Yet while beyond the palace walls, nothing suggested any kind of hostility, all could sense a danger when they entered our halls. Repeatedly, the Vizier had requested leave from the palace, but he would not give reasons. Repeatedly, my father had refused, for he wouldn't grant his advisor leave without a proper reason. And it seemed that the Vizier was highly unwilling to give one.

What day was it when it happened? All I seem to remember is hearing from the servants that the two men were now arguing quite fiercely in the throne room, though in private, and they have been for at least an hour. I had been sitting in my quarters when it had happened, putting away my bow after a pretty long and exhausting practice.

All of a sudden, the doors of my chamber had been violently knocked open. Warrior instinct kicking in, I turned on my heel sharply and saw several of our soldiers there. I frowned, about to demand how they dared, when they suddenly made way for the familiar figure of Zurvan. He seemed eerily calm and I didn't miss the triumphant look in his eyes.

"Vizier, what is the meaning of this!" I demanded angrily, "How dare you barge into my chambers, uninvited, with armed men! I will not stand for this, Father will…"

He chuckled darkly, interrupted by one of his regular coughing fits, but he still smiled as if he had the upper hand in the argument. It unsettled me greatly; I had never seen that look in his eyes before. "Princess, I assure you, the maharaja will be doing nothing for a very long while, except enjoying the view." With that, one of the soldiers, with a terrible grin, brought forth a pillow upon which the royal jewels normally lay. I shrieked unlike I have ever shrieked before, my scream distracting me for a moment from the horror of what I saw. All the crown jewels were there.

Displayed to perfection on the severed head of my father.

It didn't take too much intelligence to put two and two together and once I overcame the primal urge to scream, I knew that I must avenge my poor father. Tears of anger were now streaming down my cheeks as I leapt to my bed to grab my bow and an arrow, but my assailants were far greater in number. I only managed to pierce one's throat before another came at me, grabbed me and another wrestled the weapon out of my hands.

"Be gentle with her." The Vizier commanded sternly. "We don't want our _Princess_ injured."

By then, I had no means to fight other than the verbal battle. "Why don't you just kill me and be done with it!" I spat.

"Farah, Farah." Zurvan said, shaking his head, "You misunderstand. What use would killing you have? I killed your father because he wouldn't share my vision. It was necessary."

"Vision?" I snarled in disbelief, struggling against my captors. In vain. "For some foolish dream you killed my father, a good man who always listened to your counsel! For a delusion of an insane mind!"

"Hardly." He hissed and drew a dagger. For a moment, I thought he had changed his mind and would indeed kill me, but then I saw that it was no ordinary weapon. It was the Dagger of Time. But it shined with a strange glow that was far more frightening than anything in the room. As if the dagger wasn't metal at all, but something different, something… alive. "This is a sign."

"A sign of your madness, perhaps!" I snarled.

"Little Princess, you are way too young to understand what the prospect of death at any moment means. But on the Island of Time, I have discovered a means of avoiding that. The books we have captured showed me that immortality may not be a delusion of an insane mind. I have part of what I need already – this dagger. And now, it draws me to my next destination, where I believe I will find the last piece of the puzzle." His smile mocked me.

"You're mad! The people will never follow you!"

"But I will become a god – who is to question what I am besides immortal? And your people are of no interest to me. As you can see, some of the generals are more than willing to change their leaders… you, however, are a slight complication. You are useless dead and I imagine you will make a wonderful trophy."

With a whirl of his cloak, he slipped away from the room as the soldiers grabbed me roughly once again and dragged me after him. But I was dragged to the palace prison, put in a cell, stripped of my weapons, waiting for my trial like any criminal. And the very next day, when I thought perhaps something might change, he returned, now certain of his victory.

To invite me to a trip to Babylon.

A trip in a cage.

They encased me in a small box, just big enough for me to fit in with my arms wrapped around my shoulders. It had sticks attached to it, so that it could be carried. The bars allowed me to see everything around me, exactly as the Vizier intended. I would have preferred if the box had been completely solid. What I saw drove me to silent tears – it would have driven anyone to that.

My people fought, but had no chance. They were tortured, captured, some slaughtered mercilessly. The able ones were recruited to the army, willingly or not. Some thought that siding with the Vizier could save their lives, so they betrayed India. And so, after a week, the palace I had grown up in almost lay in ruins, its halls deserted, the rich city streets red with blood, filled with bodies.

I thought I would go mad.

I was forced to watch all of this, paraded around like an expensive bird in a cage, shown to my people as a prisoner that could do nothing but watch. I had lost my pride during those days, because I was strong. I could deal with mockery, with humiliation, with all the Vizier would do to me. But he knew me too well and struck where it hurt the most. He enslaved my people and broke their spirit. If I suffered, their torments were a zillion times worse. And at all times they were reminded that their king was dead and their princess no more than a trophy slave. Only at night was I allowed to return to the prison, to my lightless cell. Only in sleep did I allow myself to show weakness, but perhaps the ever-watching eyes of the Vizier saw my true thoughts.

Over time, however, he began to focus on his mad scheme of becoming a god and mostly ignored me, only sparing me a glance when he saw me. I became quieter then, less aggressive, since there was no way to escape. Guards surrounded me at all times, mocking me by waving my own weapons in front of my cage, tapping the bars with an arrow. I ignored them, sinking deeper into my mind, visions of my people in pain haunting me even there.

Things changed when we came to Babylon.

I have heard stories about this city, considered a wonder of the known world, with its tower reaching the skies themselves, the spectacular palace atop of it, the streets, the back alleys, the whirlpool of life. Ruled by King Sharaman - called the Wise by his own people – it was a city of peace which was content and welcomed strangers with open arms. Its proud armada protected it from all intruders, along with the high walls surrounding it. If you were an enemy, you would never pass through the famed gates of Ishtar. You would be discovered and captured before you even set foot in the city.

I have wanted to visit the city and in any other situation, I would have been glad to have had the chance to see it. But even the brief sight of its beauty didn't ease my heart. After we arrived, it took very little for the city to begin to collapse as my hometown has. The armies fought bravely, but the Vizier's armies were determined to take the city. And, aided by his witchcraft, it seemed they were invincible, a dark power protecting them, and not even the Babylonians could prevail against their might.

I sighed inwardly. It had been a week since we entered this city, a week since the Vizier began his "next step" in becoming a god. I didn't know what he pursued here, but I knew that if the tales from the books were correct, there was something wrong with the fact that the hourglass that still remained in my father's ruined palace was empty. I myself have often wondered why it was empty. Who would need an empty hourglass? Did someone intend to fill it? With what? What was the significance of the dagger and the staff?

My eyes moved up. At least this cell had a window, I thought. I had no chance of escaping, but I had a view of the stars for a while. A view of the tower of Babylon, of the royal palace, where the Vizier had taken up residence. Where I would be moved once it would be secure, probably. I would be paraded again… it didn't matter anymore. Not when guards surrounded me, chains bound me and I had no means of escape.

As I watched the stars, I suddenly realized that there seemed to be too many of them. But what I saw was too much, too quick, but still bright as stars. It seemed to be stardust. I frowned deeply and tried to focus on it. Like a tidal wave, the streams of gold were spreading from one of the towers of the palace, spreading through the city, heading in all directions. And finally, the glitter moved even to the walls of my prison.

I froze and backed away towards the wall. Whatever it was, I didn't like it. What would it do to me? In a matter of seconds, like a stream of light, it soared through my "window", but completely ignored me. I frowned. It seemed so strange, so unworldly. Yet I felt no desire to touch it. I was beyond the phase when hands-on exploration was the first thought.

My guards, who had been sitting at a table several meters away, however, didn't share my luck. The golden dust found its way to them and surrounded them, like a cloud. Screams rang through the silence and seemed to echo terribly. I covered my ears and closed my eyes. When I opened them, the strange cloud was gone, the guards were still there. Something was very wrong, however.

The glitter seemed to vanish _into them_, as if they had absorbed it. I was breathing heavily. What had just happened? There was only one way to find out. One of them, I couldn't tell which, their helmets were so alike, realized that after over eight hours without any food to speak of, I might be starving. I was ravenous, true, but I wanted to find something out.

I could sense that the guard grinned underneath his helmet when he picked up a dirty plate of some leftover food and came towards my bars with mocking words of: "Dinner, _Your Highness._" The others laughed, as if drunk.

He slipped the plate through a tiny crack underneath the bars, which was made for this purpose, but didn't manage to withdraw his hand before I managed to step on his fingers with all my strength. He yelled in pain and cursed, but I ignored that. I was certain I had at least broken one of his fingers and I was looking for a sign of blood, reddened skin, anything. But even as I backed away to avoid any assault they might attempt, I saw that his fingers, squashed, returned to their normal position. They glowed for the several seconds that it took and the strange cloud seemed to surround them, only smaller. I glanced down at the stone floor of my prison. Something was there.

The guards talked and cursed me for a while, but I ignored that. I waited for them to go back on patrol – only one would stay, and he sure as hell wouldn't be staying in one room with me. Only then did I kneel on the floor and investigate what it was. It emitted a glow not different from the one I had seen before and finally I saw what it was.

Sand.

The Sands of Time. That is the name the books have used. The hourglass… it was to contain sand. But I still didn't understand what this meant, if it had any significance. Perhaps this was just sand and I was imagining things. But I was certain that I had pressed with my full might – I might be of petite built, but that doesn't mean I can't kick hard enough when needed. I simply prefer other types of combat.

What was the meaning of this? Why had the guard remained uninjured? What did the glow that emerged from the Tower mean? I frowned.

_It doesn't matter. You can do nothing anyway. _A tiny voice in my mind said. I snapped at it to shut up.


	3. the Release

The POP plot enters the spotlight in this chapter and Action!Farah takes over. I liked the idea of Farah having a guilty conscience voice in her head, in a way, like the Dark Prince. But it isn't the same – Farah can control her conscience. Or will be able to, anyway.

X X X

Chapter 3 – the Release

X X X X

A rather rude awakening awaited me the next morning.

"Wake up, _Princess_." One of the guards growled and poked me in the ribs with the tip of his boot. Another guard laughed at this as I groggily opened my eyes. Judging by the sunlight outside, I had slept for quite a while – it seemed to be at least five hours after dawn, ten hours since midnight. I was still sleepy, but I scrambled to all fours and stretched my back a bit before the guards roughly grabbed me by the arms. I found myself passive.

"The Vizier _wishes_ that you be present at the palace." The same guard sneered as they brought me out of the quasi prison. Out on the street, my usual form of transportation right now awaited me – the very same box in which I had been brought to Babylon, paraded in India. The cage that had rendered me helpless, unable to aid my own people in their suffering. Had I any weapon, I would have clawed with it at the thing, destroyed it, purely to see it burn, to see it broken.

To be free at last.

The guards shoved me towards it and I stumbled and almost fell. They didn't care the slightest. "You know how this is done. In you go, little girl." I could only glare at them, powerless right now. I wasn't the best when it came to fistfights and they had me outnumbered, since I was unarmed. I crawled into the box, attempting to make myself as comfortable as possible. Maybe I would get a chance to escape, I thought frantically. After all, there were only two of them now and I was going to be carried through a besieged city – perhaps, if luck would be on my side.

_Or perhaps you will rot in this box and the royal prison until the Vizier decides he's had enough of breaking you._ The same voice as before said in my mind. I ignored it. I had to be strong, for my people.

I am not a believer of vengeance. But what had transpired simply couldn't and wouldn't go unpunished. I knew I would escape at the right moment and then seek out the Vizier. He would see that I was not entirely powerless, as he had believed. I would yet look him in the eye to glance at him with contempt before he would die, of this I was certain.

The two guards sealed the box and picked it up, carrying me down the street. There was no one to watch or to jeer – everyone was far too busy either running or chasing. It seemed there was no hope. I seemed passive outwardly, but I was really waiting for the right time. We were not yet in the city – we would have to get to the gate of Ishtar and enter it. And there, we would have to stop. But there, I would be within range. It was a risk, but I debated with myself whether or not wait that long.

Suddenly, I heard the unmistakable sound of horses galloping. Wheels turning fast. The ground itself seemed to shake as a carriage swooshed past us with such speed as if it was chased by wildfire. It was so quick and slightly uncoordinated that it knocked one of the guards holding my cage to the ground. And in a moment, it was gone.

I winced slightly as I hit the ground. But the fall hadn't shattered the damned box! I heard one of the guards roar: "THE PRINCE!" and run to another carriage that was just a house away. He took over the horses and took off after the first carriage.

That left only one guard with me! I realized that the moment I had been hoping for was here. Remembering all the anger I felt, I kicked at my wooden prison's wall. It broke at the first attempt. I crawled out as quickly as I could immediately. Unfortunately, that had allowed the second guard to the fact that something was happening and he rushed at me with his sword. I ducked the first swipe and quickly broke the cage, picking up one of the pieces of wood. As he came at me the second time, I sidestepped and struck the sharp wood straight into his throat with all my might. The guard roared, in pain, and his grip on the sword faltered. Reacting quickly, I yanked it from his grasp. Fencing was not my greatest skill, but Father had taught me how to use a sword long ago. Besides, there wasn't really much skill required for picking it up and, holding the weapon in both hands for a stronger blow, bringing it down at the guard's throat.

The severed head dropped to the ground unceremoniously, the body followed seconds afterwards. Panting, I gripped the sword tightly. It would yet come useful. I was free.

"For you, Father." I breathed, looking down at the corpse. Suddenly, it turned to sand. I jumped back in fright, but then realized what had been avoiding my understanding a night ago. The sands that had emerged from the tower last night had had magical powers of some sort and transformed the Vizier's armies into sand creatures! That was what made them so resistant to blows, why they returned to their normal shape!

I refused to waste time finding out whether or not this guard would be ''resurrected'' and went to search for some proper weapons. Then I frowned, because I remembered what the guard that had gone after the carriage had shouted.

Like most people that interested themselves in politics, I knew well that King Sharaman had had a son around my age, who had left him several years ago for some quarrel and had not returned ever since. Had he returned now, as the shout of the guard had indicated? Had he heard that Babylon's need was dire and chose to return, in secret, alone, to aid his father and set aside old quarrels? Perhaps.

I decided that the best way to figure out if he was of any use, assuming that it truly was the Prince of Persia, was retracing his steps. Thus I went down the road from where the carriage had come. I found a sealed gate there, but it was made of bars, similar to my little cage. But these bars were wide apart enough for someone of a small built to get through.

Did I mention that sneaking through cracks is one of my most useful skills?

Without too much difficulty, I managed to get through the gate. I found myself standing in a courtyard that was more of a graveyard than anything else. It had been an outpost of the enemy, no doubt, but now it was empty. Only the stray weapons carelessly tossed to the ground showed just how many men – or rather, creatures – had patrolled the area and how many had been slain by whoever had gone through here.

Only several meters from me, a bow had been thrown to the ground, along with a set of arrows. There were also arrows sticking out of the wooden construction. I picked the bow up and tested the string. It seemed functional. Taking an arrow as well, I attempted to hit a torch on the opposite wall several meters above me. Once I released the arrow, it soared straight into the fire.

I nodded to myself. I had a functional weapon. I threw the sword away. As it hit the wall, it broke into tiny pieces. Frowning, I tested the bow. Hopefully, it wouldn't be this easy to destroy. But as I checked it, I saw that it was made out of solid material, whereas the swords seemed to consist out of the same strange quasi-metal that had created the Dagger of Time, but considerably weaker. The Dagger was meant to last forever – these things were meant for little more than a few blows if not "refueled" by the Sands, it seemed. Thank Allah that bows were not meant as weapons to club things with, I thought.

There were more than enough arrows to be found to allow me to slay many a sand creature before I would have to restock. And in a city that was under attack from an enemy army, ammunition was to be found easily in many places.

I crawled back out through the gate – there was no other way out, apparently, from this little courtyard – and Babylon was in the other direction. I would have to get in somehow. The city was probably sealed tight right now, but my primary concern right now was getting there at all. Fortunately, I didn't have to search for the correct way. I decided that I would rather be stealthy about this than find myself a horse and just gallop to the front gates.

It took me at least an hour on foot to get to the city walls, avoiding the large patrols and killing the smaller ones from afar, retrieving my arrows afterwards. I decided to attempt to search for a crack in the wall or any kind of opening I could get through, but I remained close to the gate. I was lucky. Apparently, someone had tried to use a catapult to get into the city, so there was a smoking hole, partially concealed, not too far away from the main entrance. It took some skill, getting through the ruins, but soon, I was in the city.

I had to jump behind a pile of rubble immediately. Three guards came patrolling, searching for any sign of a disturbance. I caught that they were muttering something about some kind of arena and dividing the forces. Remembering that, I quickly killed one of them with a precise arrow into the throat. The other two turned around and drew their weapons, attempting to spot their attacker. The other dropped dead after another precise arrow. The third followed. They never even spotted me.

This is how I progressed through the city, at times revealing myself to my prey, when it was far enough away from me or too slow. But my progress was too swift, I realized too late. Several hyena-like creatures emerged from a damaged building after I killed another patrol. My eyes widened. I had never seen beasts like these and the low growls escaping their wide throats were not at all friendly. And they seemed to be glowing from within when they opened their mouths, glowing just like the sands had glowed.

I fired an arrow at the nearest one and hit it, but it didn't seem to have much effect – it would have probably required far more arrows. All that it caused was the other beasts to roar and charge at me. I didn't waste time. I had to get to a better position. I ran for it. Quickly I discovered that the beasts had no trouble chasing me. They were fast and agile. I ran, searching for an open door in the street – I had to get to safety.

Finally, I found a house with a broken window and I used it as my entrance. The beasts roared in anger, but I didn't waste time to discover whether or not they would be able to get in. I went for the stairs and ran up all the way to the highest – the third – floor. There I found a rather empty attic and a ladder that, as I saw, was ended with a trap door that apparently lead to the rooftop.

Within a minute, I was sealing the trap door tightly and looking around, shielding my eyes from the sun. this seemed to be the lower city, with its little low houses. I decided to consider alternative routes to the palace. The streets weren't safe and, in any case, it took much too long to get past all the distractions. But I was on top of a house now and the roofs of the others close to it were pretty close, only a few feet away at times, some meters most often. I felt certain I could jump it.

And jump it I did.

My hands automatically went down to support me when I landed slightly clumsily, but I sighed in relief. That had worked rather well, I decided. I spotted the Tower of Babylon again and made my way towards it. But I stopped abruptly, spotting several archers using the same route I was using. But they were far too focused on observing the streets, it seemed. I crouched behind a pile of pots and aimed an arrow for the throat of the nearest one – the one place where the thick armor didn't cover him very well where the shot would be fatal. Releasing the arrow, I watched it hit its target. Moreover, the archer in question lost balance and fell over the edge of the roof, to his death.

I was about to change my location when I heard the screams of "Help us!" from bellow. I looked over the edge of the rooftop to see what seemed to be a family harassed by a couple of guards. The guards apparently wanted to drag the father off. My eyes narrowed. I knew these weren't my people and that other people wouldn't perhaps have cared about another nation, but I couldn't allow this to go on. Those people needed help and there was no one else to give it. I drew an arrow and aimed it for the guard closest to the family. He had been on the verge of drawing his weapon when I killed him with a single shot. The others were confused and drew their weapons at the family, but I was quicker than them. Two arrows fired at the same time killed their leader effectively and the others ran away.

The family, confused, thanked Allah and ran for it quickly, going somewhere safer. I smiled to myself briefly. If only for these small sights, it was more than worth it, helping these people. They were saved now. They would live.

I progressed through the city easily this way, restocking on arrows whenever I slew an archer. I rescued people whenever I could, at times risking my own life when they had archers with them that realized where they should shoot. I would often hide behind piles of rubble, but I always succeeded. One time, I had been caught by surprise by several guards armed with swords on a rooftop that charged at me and I was forced to use my bow to spar against their blades until I managed to get to a position from where I could shoot them. I suppose they were slightly surprised that I could do acrobatics as well – if not better – as their archers could. That was the last surprise they experienced in their lives.

Eventually, I reached a rooftop too high for me to be able to jump on another. I sighed in frustration. This would mean I would have to descend to street level for a while. I glanced around to see where I would go after I would descend, just to get a general idea of the urbanism of this part of the town before I would enter a labyrinth of streets. While doing so, I spotted the lone figure of a man a level beneath me, running along the wall, as if such a thing were natural. I frowned. Interesting. The man then jumped to a railing and barely caught it with one hand, as it was in a bad angle for him to grab. And he had little time to steady himself, because a sand guard came at him.

I didn't hesitate a second. Automatically, my hand went for a fresh arrow that pierced the guard's throat before he had a chance to bring the raised sword down and slice the man in half. For good measure, I added two more arrows that followed the first one and hit almost precisely the same spot.

Something swooshed past my ear and I instinctively dropped down to the ground and crawled in the direction from whence the thing came, away from the man. He would have to climb that ledge on his own. As I had thought, an archer had spotted me – he was standing on the nearest rooftop, trying to aim another arrow at me, but I was behind the semi-floor that contained the door heading into the house by then. I entered the house and descended down the stairs. Once I was on the same level as the irritating archer, I crouched at the window, opened it slightly and aimed my own arrow at him. It was a sneak attack, but I was only returning the favor. Sadly for him, my aim was better than his.

Once he was dead, I heard steps on the lower floor and the grunting of voices. Guards, I realized. I needed to get out. The window was the only way, so I climbed out and sprang to the rooftop where the archer that had tried to hit me lay dead. Fortunately, it was close. I headed down at once, making a run for it.

Yet as I ran, I couldn't help but wonder: who was that man? He didn't seem to be frightened in any way or running away and acrobatics I found impossible, even after so much training, seemed to be borderline easy for him.

_Nicely done, Farah. You set out to avenge your father and your people and end up daydreaming about some man you didn't even see up close._ The snide voice in my mind said to me.

_I am not daydreaming about anyone!_ My mind snapped at the voice of my conscience. _I'm simply wondering who it was. _

More pleas for help and the feeling of duty to fulfill them drove the man from my mind quickly, however. By the time I had reached a quarter where I could regain the rooftops, I had all but forgotten him.


	4. the Allies

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**Chapter 3 – the Allies**

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I had lost the advantage of height for the time being – thus I had to be most careful. As much as I disliked hiding, it was necessary when some larger patrols went my way. I would have to find a better position – I had to keep moving. I was too much of an easy target down here and I refused to damage my bow in close combat. It was too much of a risk and I would do no one any good by getting myself killed. I knew my limits. I was neither invincible nor immortal and I was vastly outnumbered. I would have to think this through.

Clearly, all this was Zurvan´s doing. My thoughts froze as I considered the possibility that this transformation of his armies was the result of his success. But… becoming a god was nonsense, impossible, out of the question! Still, a fear gripped my heart and I sped up somewhat. I spotted a large building ahead, several stories high. That could be a way, I thought. I might be able to spot a window that would lead to a rooftop and the balconies I saw would provide a great position and shelter as well. No one would really expect me to be lurking there.

For the first time since I had been brought to Babylon, I actually entered a house the proper way, immediately readying an arrow to shoot any guards that might be within. Only one was there and he had his back turned to me, so his death was quick and not particularly messy. Slowly, bow at the ready, I proceeded up the stairs. There seemed to be almost no sign of movement within the house, save mine. Perhaps they had thought that the patrols in the streets were enough. And, anyway, most of the soldiers were far too busy bullying citizens and, in rare cases, fighting armour-clad men, whom I assumed to be the remnants of the Babylonian guard. They were putting up a fight, but somehow, I didn't believe they had much of a chance against these things.

_Who has?_ I asked myself. I was determined to fight to the death, however. I would not give up… simply because I couldn't. I fought to avenge my people, my father and, not least, to stop the destruction. I wouldn't allow the delusions of a madman ruin another kingdom. It was my responsibility, after all. I was the daughter of the maharaja and this was a renegade servant who had to be punished for his crimes. I didn't even realize that part of the reason why Zurvan had imprisoned me was to get rid of the true heir of the kingdom and claim its armies for his own.

It was hunger that brought me to reality. So consumed I had been with political and personal matters that I had completely forgotten that I was ravenous. During my imprisonment, I had never been starved. The Vizier made certain that I wouldn't be given the chance to die, to pass out. That I would have to watch, knowing that I can do nothing, not even end the pain. But I had not eaten since yesterday and I finally realized that. With a small sigh, I searched for the food storage of the house. The soldiers that had raided this house would have taken most of the stored food, but I still had hope. And I found several pieces of bread and, after accidentally knocking my bow against a seemingly solid piece of the wall; I discovered some cooked meat and a few vegetables. Not entirely fresh, but not unhealthy. I ate with gusto and quickly. Water was not an issue – fountains were frequent in the city, both small and large, and I was not picky when it came to necessity.

A few minutes later, I was quite sated and ready to proceed. I had eaten quietly, but in a city packed with undead sand beasts, there was no ending to taking care. I proceeded to the third and highest floor of the building. An open balcony offered me the view of the square-shaped plaza. However, I had little time to examine the surroundings. A man rushed out of the exit a floor below and as I looked at him, recognition flashed in my mind. But yet again he found himself in the situation when a sand guard was attempting to attack him from behind. I dislike cowardice at best, loathe it at worst. Automatically, my hand went to my bow. I slew him like the previous one. Three arrows were more than enough to paralyze him. Surprisingly, with a cry, he still lunged at the man with a sword, but the man was quick enough to stab him with a dagger and finish him off.

His eyes then automatically searched for his rescuer. This time, I lingered long enough for him to spot me standing on the balcony. It was definitely the same man, but I had no time for questions. I had to keep moving. I turned on my heel and wanted to return to the building. Then…

"FARAH!" he shouted quickly and I spun on my heel. He stood there, with his arm raised, clearly his cry was meant for me, to stop me from disappearing. But I was shocked, genuinely shocked. He knew my name! I had no idea who this stranger was and yet he seemed to know who I was. Perhaps I shouldn't leave just like that, I decided.

"How do you know my name?" I demanded, giving him a suspicious glance. He seemed to suddenly realize that I had actually heard him and muttered nervously something to himself that sounded like "Yes… well…" as if he didn't know how to say it or didn't want to tell me the truth… the whole truth, anyway. He hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"I have heard tales… wondrous tales of a beautiful," I gave him a slightly outraged frown and he quickly added: "and brave Princess of India! Who has come to Babylon to punish… an evil Vizier, who has caught her great distress!" I had more than a nagging suspicion that he was making that story up as quickly as he could to explain his knowledge of my name.

However, during his rather pointless ramble, he failed to notice that another sand guard was creeping up from behind, his sword raised, ready to sever the man's head. While he was clearly lying to me, I didn't need a reason to save his life. Well, I already had it: curiosity. But he was, after all, human like me. That was enough reason for me to save him. I closed one eye and readied my bow, quickly aiming an arrow at him. For a moment, I saw the man's eyes widen, as if he thought I was going to shoot him. But why would I do that? I asked myself as I released the arrow and slew the sand creature. The man turned and saw the arrow hit the creature. It turned into sand right in front of his eyes.

I shook my head in disbelief. "How in the world have you managed to survive this long?" I asked, my tone serious, "Good luck, stranger." I wished him. And I was being honest – getting distracted easily like this was no good in this situation. Clearly, he had had a whole lot of luck or skill he hadn't yet displayed in front of me.

Nevertheless, I couldn't hesitate anymore. I had to regain the rooftops. Leaving the balcony, I decided to see if there was any other way out of the building. On this floor, there apparently wasn't. But there was a way to enter the next part of the building from the second floor. I chose that as my exit, glancing at the plaza out of a nearby window. I didn't see the man anymore.

I decided to leave through another, larger window, when no danger was involved – I dropped down to another rooftop, which was only about a meter below me. From there, it was easy progress. Apparently, this part of town wasn't yet infested with the sand creatures, since the Temple, a dominant building, was nearby, and clearly some of the guard decided that their last attempt to resist would be best placed there.

I decided to check the Temple out myself – it was a good place to start.

My progress was quite easy until I reached an open staircase that would bring me a level higher. I glanced to the right mid-way. It was him. But what captured my attention was the weapon he accidentally held up for me to see. He had a sword in his left hand, but it was the dagger that caught my attention. It was glowing.

"The Dagger of Time!" I said, stopping dead in my tracks. My surprise turned to a frown. "How did you come to possess that?"

The man almost shrugged. "I took it. From the Vizier."

Had he been at the palace when the change came? Was this his fault? But the mention of the Vizier caused the flame of anger in me to light up again. "That traitor! He murdered my father, enslaved my people, imprisoned me! And all in the name of becoming some kind of god!"

He frowned deeply. "I know too well what he is capable of." His eyes darkened as he spoke words of vengeance. "But I intend to find him. And punish him for what he has done to my kingdom."

My eyes widened again. Was it him? "_You_ are the son of Sharaman?" I asked, surprised, "The Prince of Persia?"

"And you are the daughter of the maharaja." He said simply, not asking. "We both seek the same thing… perhaps we should journey together." There was a slight hopefulness in him that I viewed as strange.

However, he had survived all those sand creature attacks, had he not? He had, unintentionally, freed me from my cage, apparently. Should I trust him? Join with him? Perhaps. I would have to see with my own eyes that he was capable of all those things I hoped he was capable of. "Perhaps." I said, attempting to sound as if I couldn't care less. "Provided you can keep up!" and I was off quickly, running up the stairs.

I managed to get to a series of bridges on which I could follow his path, whichever he would choose. Meanwhile, I managed to get a closer look at him. He seemed to be slightly older than me, but by no more than two or three years. His black hair fell into his eyes and his green eyes flared with anger and showed experience. He was more than well-built and I saw, as he once again proceeded to run along the wall and kill sand creatures with a series of well-chosen movements, that he certainly was no novice to combat and endurance. And I admit that beneath the darkness I saw in his look, there were attractive features and a pleasant voice. But he was surrounded by a shadow, as if something dark weighted him down.

Elaborately, he killed two guards at the same time on one platform. I realized that it wouldn't be wise to refuse – I could cover him with my bow and together, we could probably move with speed and effectively do what we couldn't do alone. I ran along one of the bridges towards him.

"Alright, I'm impressed." I said, slightly breathily. He made quite a progress. "I suppose it is wise to journey together. There is strength in numbers, after all."

"I'm glad you've come around." He said, with a quiet satisfaction that was in no way resentful.

I felt the sudden urge to be slightly less amiable. For some reason, it seemed like the natural thing to do. We were allies, but there was too much going on around us. We had lingered there for too long. "Just don't make me regret it. Now, let's find the Vizier!"

There was no way for him to leave the platform other than returning back from where he came, but there was a shut door behind him. I saw the stuck mechanism, though he didn't. This was one of those moments when a ranged weapon was truly far handier than a sword or an axe. I fired an arrow and the door opened, the mechanism now functional again. The Prince spared me a glance before collecting a new sword, as the last one had been reduced to sand, and proceeded through the door. I found myself staring after he left for a moment, but I snapped out of it and quickly returned my mind to the task at hand.

I saw that the path he took could only head down. I watched him progress through the streets below. I was lucky that I actually saw what path he took. It seemed that the road would bring him to the Temple, so that was where I decided to go myself.

I progressed easily, killing a few sand guards just because they didn't see me and I felt that the less sand guards would be lurking at strategic positions, the better for us. Meanwhile, the voice in my head – my conscience, apparently – was berating me for staring at him.

Yet I hadn't been staring! My intentions were completely clear – we were allies brought together by a series of events. We both had our responsibilities in this situation. He had a throne to reclaim, I had a would-be tyrant to stop. There was nothing wrong with judging his abilities by his appearance or his deeds!

This was not the time for a war with the part of me that was clearly female. After all, the relationship between Persia and India hadn't been completely friendly before this whole conflict – there was really little we could do about that. Thus our allegiance was purely a necessity. In any case, I could always go solo if he didn't live up to my expectations.

I eventually found a tunnel that led me to my destination. The Temple was straight ahead, but as I spotted the main entrance, I saw that it was sealed. However, a brief survey of the surroundings alerted me to the rather large crack in front of me. Someone had tried to bombard the Temple, apparently… or was just extremely clumsy. Whatever the case, that would be our best bet to enter the city.

The Prince rejoined me in a moment, just a ledge before mine. I wanted to say something, I suppose, something encouraging, perhaps tell him of the plan I had formed while he had been away. But then something so surreal caught my attention, I almost felt as if I was seeing things. I couldn't imagine what it was, this thing…

Other than the fact that it didn't look very friendly.


	5. the Separation

Yay for updates!

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**Chapter 5**

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The thing in question was at least two and a half meters tall, almost twice as wide and floating above the ground. It was a creature, a living thing, because I believed I saw its breathing. But the spectacular golden wings and unworldly appearance gave it the look of a much too oversized scarab beetle that had been twisted into some sort of monster. It wasn't paying the slightest attention to us and I doubt the Prince would have noticed it, as he had just arrived and the thing was floating very quietly.

"What _is_ that thing?" I asked, pointing at the… thing (I really had no other name for what I saw). Perhaps the Prince had seen it before…

And, apparently, he had. He turned quickly to see what I was pointing at and at once jumped to the broken railing to his left. "It's the Vizier!" he cried, enraged but unsurprised.

Zurvan? I thought. This couldn't be… "What's happened to him?" I had a hunch why he looked like an overgrown scarab, but I had absolutely no idea how he had achieved this. It had been a mad scheme in my eyes up till now, an impossible thing… but even my logical strategic mind couldn't deny that this… thing, this… god, I was afraid to say, was there, present, very much alive.

As suddenly as he appeared, Zurvan disappeared in the Temple and the doors sealed themselves behind him before either of us could even move a muscle. The Prince appeared greatly frustrated that he couldn't have charged head-fist at the Vizier and expressed those feelings with a loud "No!" and by banging his fist against the railing with a great force. Under any other circumstances, I would have thought his behavior very ridiculous. But I understood his frustration that he couldn't do anything, because I partially shared it. The difference between the two of us was that I had mastered this impulse, thanks to the weeks I had spent in a prison.

"Be happy that he is gone." I said, trying to calm him with kindness. "You would never have stood a chance."

He turned to me with a look of disbelief and for that brief moment, I saw just how hurt he was by hearing this response from me. As suddenly as it appeared, it was gone, replaced by a cynical face. "Oh, how silly of me! You're right. Maybe we should surrender. Or turn away and leave the city! I know a lovely little island just a few weeks journey from here, I'm sure by the time we arrive this will all be sorted out!"

My hands at my hips, I glared at him. The old Farah wouldn't have wasted a moment before snapping something really vicious right back at him. But there were greater things happening around us and we didn't have time for this particular conversation. For the moment, I decided to leave this fight to someone pettier than I. "If it comforts you to mock me, then by all means continue. But you are so focused on killing him that you have thrown strategy completely out of the window!" I snapped pointedly, turning away and folding my arms. "You could have died."

_And why would that mattered to you, hmm?_

_Allies are important! Together, we have a chance!_

You weren't so keen to join forces ten minutes ago…

The Prince interrupted my mental catfight. "I suppose." he muttered, "But we need to get to the palace. We're wasting time here."

"That seems to be out best bet." I said, turning and pointing at the major cracked wall I had noticed when I first arrived in the courtyard. I thought I saw a switch there and hoped that it would open one of the two doors I spotted ahead of us. One was directly in my path, so it would be easy.

A strange roar was the first thing that alerted me to the fact that the Prince was already below, fighting some strange greenish warriors. However, after seeing the Vizier, the fact that they seemed to be invisible wasn't all that intriguing. Once you see the giant bug-like golden floating thing, a bunch of invisible guys just isn't enough to attract your attention. Naturally, the Prince experienced no problems whilst fighting them.

He switched swords, because the one he had been fighting with looked much worse for the wear and there was another one lying around. With a mix of climbing, jumping and wall-running, he was able to get just below the crack in the wall. That was where he stopped, because there was no obvious way to get to his destination. Fortunately, he had me, and I, being the archer, spotted things that had eluded his attention. I saw the bell some meters above him and quickly severed its rope with a well-placed arrow.

The Prince ran up the wall. I didn't see what he did inside the opening in the wall, but the next noise I heard was the door opening. I wasted no time, aware that it would close in a moment.

"It worked!" I exclaimed, "I'm going in!"

And boldly, I did that, not even waiting for him to answer me. He probably wouldn't wish that I go, but I needed to explore the surroundings a bit, spot enemies, before he would come charging in with a sword.

I found myself in a tower with many stairs, and I began making my way up at once. It was a long way up, my footsteps weren't that loud and I thought that I had time, so I saved a bit of energy and ascended slowly. After all, I didn't want to run into an enemy on the stairs simply because I would be foolish for a moment. Any enemy above me would have the higher ground, which, as all fighters knew, was essential when it came to battle.

Finally, a streak of sunlight showed me that I was finally atop the tower. Ahead of me was another one, and then two more. They all seemed to be connected with stone ledges. "Such a beautiful building…" I couldn't help but say.

"Father built these gardens as a symbol of his love for our people." The Prince's voice startled me a bit. He was, once more, a level beneath me, in a courtyard with the thickest and least intact looking tower of them all, clearly slightly faster than I. "Once, all of the kingdom looked like this."

Then I noticed the strange levers nearby and suggested to him that he use them to get me to the other side – I had spotted a door there, but there was no visible means of getting to the switch, as usual. The Prince spotted the levers as well and proceeded to pull them. It was a lengthy process and a difficult one, because each of the levers activated two of the platforms. But he figured out how it worked and got me past the first ledge… however, as I jumped to the other side, I felt slightly frustrated. He was the one who had said we shouldn't be wasting time and now look at him!

"Do you think you could move a little faster?" I asked snappishly, slightly more princess-like than I had behaved before.

He looked up at me, with a tinge of annoyance in his voice and… was that amusement in his eyes? "You're more than welcome to come down here and try it yourself!" he called, indicating at the lever. Then he lowered his head and shook it, now clearly amused, muttering to himself. "Seven years and still, nothing has changed."

I frowned deeply. What was that supposed to mean? Seven years of what? "Seven years? What are you talking about?"

He seemed to realize only then that my hearing wasn't damaged and he had been talking out loud. Quickly, with the same desperation he had shown when I had asked him how he knew my name, he quickly stuttered: "It's… uh… a figure of speech!"

It was probably the dumbest excuse I had ever heard in my life, but I wasn't going to pry. Maybe he actually told the truth this time, but I doubted it. After all, why would he be surprised and frightened that I heard if it was a mere figure of speech? Besides, I thought I knew all the figures of speech that mattered, having grown up among politicians, but I had never heard this particular one before. It smelled like a made-up excuse to escape telling the truth… and I hated lies.

My eyes narrowed slightly as I observed him now. "There's something very odd about you…" I said slowly, watching him for a moment even as he ignored me and got back to work. This time, he managed to move me slightly faster, but the mood was darkened once, because once I got past two more ledges, I heard his voice from below.

"Ah, we're making progress." He said dryly.

Ignoring him, I examined the crack on the wall of the collapsed tower. I saw a bell there… or I thought I did. I could sever its rope, that should do the trick, just like before! Quickly, I informed the Prince of this plan, hoping that he would accept it without any snide remarks. After all, our roles had been chosen, it seemed: he was the warrior, I was the strategist. Once I would sever the rope of the bell, he would get to the switch.

"With my luck, it will probably trigger some terrible trap." He said with a slight bitter laugh. "Or summon sand creatures. Or bring about the end of the world!"

Now I was angry. "Would it kill you to show a little optimism?" I asked him, hoping that it would silence him.

"Experiences taught me that wishful thinking only leads to disappointment." He said darkly.

He left me to wonder what experiences those might be and continued with his work. And I really wondered what had caused him to grow so bitter. I had heard tales of him even in India, of his bravery as well as kindness, before he departed for the unknown without a reason or purpose and no one knew why or where he went. I had heard of his good nature, albeit a little too proud for his own good, but still, there were no tales of the bitterness of this man, whose eyes were old far too early, his gaze hardened before his time. This was no little pampered princeling whose only concern was which horse to pick and which uniform to wear to look good during a parade or a banquet. This was a man who had seen war and fought alone in it. He had had his own battles, entire wars, perhaps, and all the time, he had been victorious… and alone.

Perhaps that was the reason why he had such difficulty in accepting that the world wasn't as dark as he believed or that at times, he could trust the judgment of another.

By the time he had gotten me to the last ledge and I readied my bow to shoot the bell down, I decided to be slightly kinder, though I still voiced my point. "See? You did it!"

"_We_ did it." He corrected me, with a slightly less bitter voice… though I could have imagined that, I suppose.

I shot down the bell and he proceeded to trigger the switch to which I had given him access. I was about to say that I would be able to get back down to him somehow, maybe if he would catch me, I could jump it… but I was spared the need to choose the means of transportation when I heard screams and sounds of pain… and they were coming from within the tower… the entrance was right behind me.

"Wait! There are people hurt inside!" I quickly turned around, examining the source of the noise. "We should help them!"

After the briefest hesitation the Prince nodded. "Go, Farah. Tend to the wounded. I will catch up with you as soon as I've dealt with the Vizier."

I saw no other choice but to trust him – I couldn't leave the people to suffer and he wouldn't follow me right now, I knew. And perhaps he would succeed within the walls of the Temple. Perhaps… either way, my need to help those people took over. I nodded curtly and ran through the entrance, quickly searching for the source of the pained noises.

But my conscience didn't want to wait, apparently.

_He could get killed…_

_He won't. he is a capable warrior._

_A few minutes ago, you were the reasonable one._

_I still am! But the people need my help!_

And what if the Vizier kills him?

Then we will have less hope of succeeding. 

_You were almost willing to jump from that tower and trust him to catch you._

_Yes._

_Why?_

Why not? Why wouldn't he catch me? I'm not that fat…

_Truly not. But you haven't trusted anyone this much since… the siege in India. You wanted to trust him with your life._

_I guess so… I saved his life a few times, too, so I don't suppose he'd just let me fall. Besides, showing my trust is enough to gain his for a moment, I hope._

_And why do you hope that?_

Collaboration is the key to our success.

_You are curious about him, that much is clear._

I didn't have the time to answer. The last pained sounds have died away, and I had been left alone in the frightening darkness of the city. I finally left the tower and entered some kind of large room… but it was filled only with death. Bodies, corpses everywhere… I didn't know what to do except leave. All of the wounded were dead – I checked their pulse - so I only collected what arrows I could find and quickly left through the only open exit.

It led to a tunnel, through which I raced, quite eager to rendezvous with the Prince. I had seen enough of death for one day, way too much. I ran through the tunnel, but I stopped short, with a slight gasp. My breathing stopped for a moment.

Again. A cage. The tunnel exit was barred.


	6. the Helping Hands

Finally, here is the update! Thank you for the wonderful reviews!

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**Chapter 6 – the Helping Hands**

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In my mind, I could almost imagine the walls of the corridor closing in around me. There was no way out, save the one I came through, and if I would return that way, I might not be able to catch up with the Prince again. It was a difficult decision… but I chose to try and break down the bars. For at least ten minutes I hacked, slashed, tore at the bars of my cage, but they didn't move, for all of their rustiness. And their openings were too petite even for my think frame to squeeze through. I almost wanted to kick them, but I knew it wouldn't change a thing, only perhaps break my toes.

Far away, in the distance, I saw a mass of gold and light, floating, like some heavenly being… towards thee palace, the one atop the Tower of Babylon. I knew at once that this was no deity, just one traitor eager to masquerade as one.

The sound of calm and heavy footsteps alerted me to the presence of someone else behind the corner, just out of my sight. Well, I decided, if it was a Sand Creature, I could run back and try to find another way here. But if it was the Prince, I had to somehow alert him to my presence. I began shaking the bars as much as I could, trying hard to make him hear me.

To my greatest relief, it was the Prince… and he spotted me behind the gate. At once, he rushed towards me, as if I were mortally wounded. I sighed in relief, probably for the first time showing that I am really glad to see him.

"Are you alright?" I asked, sincerely hoping that he was, because for once, I was unable to get us­… very well, _myself_… out of this mess.

The Prince frowned and said with a notable bitterness: "He has escaped. And you?" suddenly, he laid a hand over mine, the one that had been clutching the bars desperately. I paid it no heed for once and ignored the fact that my muscles lost much of the tension they had been trapped in moments ago. "What of the troops?"

I shook my head sadly. "Dead. All dead. But I saw the Vizier," I added quickly, so that I wouldn't forget this piece of crucial information. "or whatever it is he's become. He flew towards the palace."

The Prince nodded curtly. "Then we know where to go."

"Alright. But I seem to be…uh…stuck." I was ashamed to admit this helplessness, but it truly seemed that I couldn't get out on my own. "Could you help me find a way out?"

Instead of answering, the Prince darted to the left and vanished out of sight. That surprised and irritated me a bit. I was hoping very much that our bickering at the beginning hadn't now turned against me and that he wouldn't decide to just abandon me here… or play a prank of a similar nature on me. But I heard the muffed sounds of battle and weapons clashing from somewhere bellow, wicker bins and pots breaking… and after a minute, the bars in front of me flew up and vanished in the ceiling. I ran out at once, hoping very much that they wouldn't fall down a second later.

They didn't, but by that time, I was already standing at the railing, looking at the Prince, who stood a floor below me, smiling in thanks.

"Thank you Prince." I said, meaning it this time."

"Of course. The problem is…now I am trapped." the Prince said, trying to sound casual.

I saw that there was a door next to him… but two pressure planks on the floor. He couldn't stand on both at the same time, clearly. It was my turn. "Allow me to return the favour then."

I looked around, searching for something I could shoot down like I did with the bells at the Temple. Sure enough, I saw what I was looking for. It was a crate, not a bell, but it would do. It was held on a hanging platform by several ropes. If my calculations were correct, shooting down one of the ropes would change the balance of the crate and it should fall. If not, I had arrows to spare. But my theory was correct. The Prince shot me a smile of gratitude after pushing the crate upon one of the planks and activated the second one. He vanished through the door quickly.

I followed, still a floor above him, through the paths were different, I imagine, than those he walked now. I encountered no enemies, which I thought was most suspicious. Nevertheless, I was glad that after a few minutes, I spotted the Prince again. He had climbed some kind of small tower and was trying to get around it and descend to the ground. I was just about a meter above him.

"There you are!" I called out.

"Keep your voice down!" he hissed, "There are enemies below!"

"Okay." I looked at my path. Again, it was blocked. How was I to get past a bunch of crates without knocking one over and alerting the monsters below? I could get to the next ledge… if there was one crate less, I suppose. I was quick to inform the Prince of that, but he said nothing, simply continued. I could do little more than watch him, because even arrows would put the guards below on their guard.

Once again, he got past them easily. I spotted a bright beam of light ahead and then, it suddenly vanished. I remembered seeing those things before and guards emerging from them. Something like passages, but far more frightening.

And then, suddenly, the crates before me dropped one level lower. I smiled to myself, took a step back and jumped atop the topmost crate. It swayed slightly and then began falling forward, but I jumped and grabbed the ledge in front of me in time. With a grunt, I managed to raise myself and once more, I felt ground beneath my feet. I waved with my bow at the Prince.

As he vanished, I started moving as well. My path, fortunately, seemed to be very easy. I went slowly, my bow and an arrow ready, but encountered no resistance. As soon as I entered a three-way crossroad, something dropped nearby and the Prince sprang to his feet from a roll, appearing as suddenly as he had vanished. I had to say, I was impressed.

The panoramic view of the palace provided neither of us comfort, but we were now very close… it was only a quick hike through the city now and we would be right next to the tower. From there, it was only a matter of climbing it. I think we both had absolute certainty as to where the Vizier might be lurking.

"At last we have returned." the Prince said, very quietly. He seemed to have calmed somewhat, but he was staring at the tower with fierce determination.

However, fate had other plans that day.

From behind us, I could hear whimpering. A woman, clearly. It sounded like begging… as if she was begging for her life. It was a most pitiful, heart-wrenching sound and I found it impossible to ignore. Just as the cries of the dying at the Temple. Just as the screams of my people. I couldn't stand there and pretend I didn't hear it. But perhaps my mind, my burdened conscience, had conjured it all up!

I turned to the Prince. His confirmation would bring me to reality. "Did you hear that?" I asked, turning to look, hoping I would see proof of what my senses said.

There was a silence from the Prince before he said, his mind made up: "Farah, we must press on."

He had heard! He had heard, I was certain of it! Was this some kind of jest? This wasn't the time! I couldn't leave the suffering to suffer! "Are you mad!" I cried, looking at him with wide eyes, "She was begging for her life! She said there were others." Surely he didn't mean this!

But he did. "No!" yet he refused to look at me, trying to stay committed to the path he had chosen. Perhaps he was afraid that looking at me would cause his determination to sway. "We can afford no more delays!"

"These are your people!" I cried, hoping that he didn't mean what he had said. It was his duty to help them! "You are their prince! And yet you would leave them to suffer?"

He stopped in his steps and looked at me, as if begging me to understand. I didn't. I couldn't. "That man has taken everything from me!" he said, pointing at the palace. "And now that I have the opportunity to punish him…you want to delay me?" The quiet desperation was now strong. "Have you forgotten what he did to you?"

"But I-"

"You are burdened by a guilty conscience Farah." Why must he see what I don't want him to see? "He made you watch as your people suffered, unable to aid them. You were _not_ to blame. Don't let it cloud your judgment." And he turned away, as if that solved the situation.

But I wasn't some little girl who he could put in her place. I had outgrown such things. My will was that of a Princess and my conscience said that these people weren't meant to suffer as they did. I could not leave them, I had to save them. With or without his help. Perhaps he wasn't who my hopes had made him out to be. His thoughts always returned just to the primal need to avenge his lost honour. I realized that it was important to him, but to a royal, their people should be their top priority, especially in a situation such as this. We could help them… and if he wouldn't, I would.

"It is not I who suffers from clouded judgment." I said crossly, folding my arms. "You may not be willing to help them, but you cannot stop me!" I turned away and walked off angrily. I didn't look back.

" I go to kill the Vizier and end this!" I heard him shout after me. I paid it no heed. "While you run around applying bandages to axe wounds!" Something within me winced. But my feet sped up and I found myself running.

I couldn't believe that I had been wrong. But perhaps my judgement had been clouded. I had believed that, despite his bitterness and anger, he would be able to push his own personal interests aside for the good of his people. Apparently, I had a lot to learn about people. He was living proof of the fact that I was too much of an idealist. I might have matured and learned a lot over a short period of time, but still, I saw the world as I wished it would be.

I didn't turn back as I ran. Fortunately, the path I had chosen was mostly clean, tainted only by a few corpses. The gates of the brothel were wide open as I ran through. Almost immediately, I had to hide behind a pillar as an arrow flew in my direction. As I had thought, the place was filled with enemies. The archer, I dealt with quickly by crouching and shooting the arrow from a strange angle. However, new kinds of enemies appeared, like I had never seen before.

A wraith-like thing rose from the ground and it seemed to float across the room. As I watched it, it suddenly turned and threw a dagger at me. I barely dodged it and shot two arrows at it, enough to cripple it for a moment and allow me to throw the dagger right back. It hit it squarely in the chest and it broke into grains of sand. The daggers, however, remained intact.

That was fortunate, because in a moment, three women appeared. Well, they seemed to have feminine traits, but their faces were masked. Most of their bodies were scandalously exposed, just like prostitutes would do and in each hand, they had strange curved blades. I shot an arrow at the nearest, but the thing deflected it easily with its weapons. I shot another, but again, the monster just sent it flying away with an unpleasant titter that turned into a kind of moan. I was bewildered and now slightly afraid, because the three began closing in on me.

I couldn't shoot them with my arrows, but fortunately, I spotted the daggers lying on the floor. Passing my bow to my right hand, I grabbed a dagger and defended myself against the onslaught of blows that followed. After a few swings they took at me, I noticed that there eventually came a moment where they had to stop moving. With all my strength, I swung the dagger and brought it to the stomach of one. She swayed and collapsed… but the weapons remained. I grabbed both of them this time, swinging my bow over my shoulder, twirling the twin blades to get a feel for them. Then, I was ready to face the other two wenches.

Fortunately, they weren't exactly smart and thought I would be an easy target, when forced to use a weapon I wasn't familiar with. They were all the more surprised when I sliced off their heads within a few minutes.

The weapons broke into sands once I was finished with them, but I didn't mind. I just dusted my hands for a moment before reclaiming my trusty bow and continuing through the building, arrows at the ready. Obviously, I couldn't de-monsterize the entire brothel. And it wasn't my goal, anyway. Exterminating the beasts wasn't what I had come to do. I was here for the women, to save them, and I would do that before leaving here. Their safety was my priority.

I avoided the traps and patrols in the brothel, which was secured like to military target would be, who knew why. I had a few lucky shots before I was discovered. An archer noticed me and fired an arrow at me, missing. I would have taken him out, if I could have, but I saw that another of them had taken up residence on the opposing balcony. They had me cornered – wherever I would appear, both of them had a clear shot at my head. I hid behind a pillar and knew that I would have to stay there.

But I couldn't. I knew they wouldn't wait for me to make up my mind. Their hasty steps alerted me to their presence and once more of those quasi-dancing wenches appeared at my side, I did the most rational thing I could think of. I threw myself out of the window. Fortunately, I had seen that the ground was only a meter or so beneath me, so there was little harm in falling. At once, I took off and before I knew it, I was away from the brothel, far enough to elude the sight of my pursuers. But I hadn't completed my task, which irritated me no end.

I had to rethink my strategy, I decided. I found myself a shielded platform, where I had the upper hand, the higher ground, and pondered my plans for a moment. if I was right, I was somewhere near the plaza I had seen before, from the windows, so I could try and…

"Farah!" A familiar and thoroughly unwelcome voice called from beneath my platform. I turned around with the most irritated and arrogant face I could muster and looked at the Prince as if he wasn't worth a damn.

"What do you want?" I asked, expecting another fight. He climbed up to where I was standing and lowered his head for a moment. When he spoke, his voice wasn't forceful or angered.

"I have though about what you said, and you were right." There was no shame in the apology, only honesty. I felt my mask of anger and annoyance fall down crashing. I hadn't seen him like this yet. Atonement seemed foreign to him, but still, it was a welcome change. He had to really care about… about… my _opinion…_if he had crossed all these paths just to apologize for this. "I-"

There was a swoosh and something solid and sharp flew in front of our faces. The Prince and I dodged it… barely… and then looked up to see out assailant. For a moment, I thought it was one of those near-naked wenches that I had encountered previously, but this one looked different. Her clothing was more modest and different. Her skin was luminously pale, but of a pale violet colour, looking most unhealthy. She wore a horned helmet that seemed too big and her eyes gleamed. On her belt, she had more than a healthy supply of daggers. The Prince had no chance of recognizing her, but I did.

Another traitor. Mahasti. One of those who had taken Zurvan´s side in India.

"Can't you see we're in the middle of a conversation?" I snapped at her, hands at my hips. "If you really do desire death kindly wait your turn."

I was ready to dodge another dagger, but instead, she turned and ran off.

The Prince had a look in his eyes like a hunter ready to jump at his prey. However, he quickly turned to me. "I have killed most of the guards; it should be safe. Go and free the women." I nodded and headed off, hoping that the traitor would meet her fate… and glad that the Prince had returned. "I will deal with her." I heard him say as I headed off.


	7. the Lies

After quite some time, here is the next chapter!

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Chapter 7 – the Lies

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The Prince had spoken the truth – the entire brothel was now filled with sand, not with guards ready to fight. I found the women without too much difficulty. Their cries made sure of that. I ran as fast as I can to free them. I finally reached the door behind which they were sealed. Seizing a sword that had fallen out of the hands of a slain sand guard, I struck the lock with all my strength repeatedly. After four hits, it gave in and broke with a loud clank. Behind the door, curled into miserable balls on the floor, were at least two dozen women, the occupants of the brothel, wailing and crying, desperately begging for their lives.

When they saw me, they thought at first that I was their executioner and thus begged for mercy. It took several minutes before I actually managed to convince them that I wasn't one of the Sand Creatures and that I had come to rescue them. Finally, they believed me and gave me their sobbing thanks. I told them where to go, to the placed the Prince and I had already been to and secured. And they thanked me again, saying that I surely must be some manifestation of Inanna, Ishtar, the goddess of the dawn and war and love.

I saw them head off and fell a sense of relief, as if a weight had been taken off my shoulders. What had happened in India wouldn't be repeated here. We would yet save these people. We…

I suddenly remembered, as if my mind had been wiped before with the need to rescue these women, that I had abandoned the Prince in the plaza, leaving him to do battle in my stead while I rushed away to "apply bandages to axe wounds", to use his term for it. But I smiled to myself now. He had realized that he had been wrong and that was enough. That wad a wonderful realization, the best thing that our conversations had given us. Perhaps my constant preaching and prodding had had some effect at long last. I decided that I would try to be more focused and try to trust him more from now on.

There was still a chance for goodness within him, I saw it.

Once the women were gone, I turned on my heel and rushed through the brothel, back to the plaza, to see if I could help the Prince somehow. With his battle skills, I supposed that he was already done with the battle, because I had seen him fight even the toughest monsters with astonishing ease. Besides, I would help him finish the wench off if he needed it – I don't think she would anticipate my return.

But as I approached the Plaza, I heard no sounds of battle, no sounds of blades clashing, no cries. I could only suppose that the battle was over… and then, I heard a woman's scream and the distant pang, as if something had hit the ground, hard. A grim satisfaction crossed my face. My hunch had been confirmed. The battle was done.

Confidently, a smile crossing my face, I approached. I decided that perhaps it would be good to drop my royal pride and my commanding nature for the moment and show my appreciation for a moment, especially when he himself had done the same.

"The women are free and heading to safety." I said, satisfied. "It was right of you to return…" I stopped, mid-sentence… for I had finally spotted the Prince.

He was looming over the edge of one of the four platforms of the square, looking down at something… and then he turned to me and I took a step back. At first, I didn't know if it was him at all.

His skin was dark, black or a deep ash grey, I couldn't tell, his black hair seemed to be a dark flame, there were shining golden marks on his left arm, which confirmed to me that it was really him – I had seen them on his arm before and wondered what they were. Yet before, there was also some kind of chain of daggers that dug deep into his skin, undoubtedly causing him great pain, like a serpent that tried to strangle him. But now, he held the daggers with his left hand, like a whip, ready to strike. In his right, he still had the Dagger of Time. When he turned to me, I saw that the blue-green of his eyes was gone, replaced by a shining yellow, just as gleaming as the Sands…

"Prince?" My voice shook with fright. I wasn't certain what he'd do; even the distance between us didn't seem great enough. "You're…you're one of them?"

It was as if only then, he had realized that I was actually there, that I saw him for what he was, for what he truly was. Desperately, he reached out a hand. "No! Farah, this is not what it looks like!" he cried.

But how could it not be? How could it not be, my eyes weren't deceiving me! He was one of them, one of the creatures I had been trying to destroy for this long, a spy of them, or worse, a mockery of them, something to show me that there truly was no hope.

"You're a sand monster!" I screamed, "You lied to me, all this time!"

"No!" he called back. But it was a lie! "I have been tainted by the Sands, this is true, but my mind and my heart are my own! Please believe me!"

Believe him? Believe him! After all the lies, the deception! After everything that had happened, all the times when he could have told me and I would perhaps have believed him that he wasn't evil, that he wasn't trying to use me, that there was a reason behind his silence! But there wasn't! There was no trust between us now, only fear. His fear that I would leave him and my fear of what he might do. There was only one alternative – run, my mind said to me at once.

Run… but first, end this. End the lie.

End him.

I loaded my bow and aimed the arrow at him. "Stay away from me!" but the longer I looked at him, the more his voice brought back the vision of him as I remembered him, a person, a human, not a creature. I realized that just as I couldn't leave the dying and the suffering to their fate, I couldn't end the life of someone I had known, whether it was in truth or lies. I aimed the arrow away from him and closed my eyes as I released it. It soared away and vanished behind the wall, but I didn't stay long enough to watch it.

I ran for it.

I didn't care where I would run; I simply needed to get away, away from him, from the horror of what he was. I paid no heed to my surroundings; I simply dashed through the closest passageway, through the nearest open door. Only once I wouldn't be able to run any further, only then would I stop.

It took minutes before I heard him behind me, but I knew it was him – no one else would be quick enough. I didn't turn, simply tried to run even faster than was possible for me. I couldn't face him again, look into his ashen, burned face and eyes that were cold despite their fiery gleam. I had to go on alone, get away from him and return to my priorities.

_You have less reason to trust him than you have ever had and still you didn't kill him when you had the chance…_

I continued running. I couldn't even face myself in this state.

But, indeed, why had I spared him? I was supposed to shoot him, I knew I was! For a moment, I slowed down and lingered. Why haven't I had the courage to do it? No… courage has nothing to do with it… the will, that was what I lacked.

"Farah! WAIT!"

I snapped out of my trance and looked into the corridor I had run through and saw him. I didn't stick around; however, I dashed away, ignoring his pleas. I had to get away. I ran and ran and ran, then climbed up into a building, hoping to lose him there. Somehow, however, I was afraid that he would still find me. I then descended back to street level and ran… after a few steps, just a few feet away from the door, I sensed someone above me.

At least twenty meters above me was the Prince, now no longer his transformed self, back to his human appearance. Still, however, I was wary. My hand played with the string of my bow. I knew I didn't have the will to shoot him down… but the will to defend myself was still present.

He was leaning against the railing, looking at me with the same desperation he had at the plaza.

"Do you see now?" he bellowed from above, "The change was physical, nothing more!"

But there was no reason for me to believe this, I realized! His talk of how we cannot delay, of my guilty conscience, of how I waste time, of how we should hurry and go do battle and fight and kill! Did he think I was so stupid that I would believe that? How could I?

Perhaps your transformed form is more fitting that you believe, my Prince, the form showing death and darkness. Perhaps it reflects you far better than you think, the deep dark parts of your mind that reek of death and destructions. What dark places have you been to during the forgotten years of your exile and what doom has made you what you are today, the predator who never looks back, only forward, to the next battle, so that he wouldn't have to face himself in a fight he could never win?

I didn't want to know.

"Why should I believe you?" I demanded, "Everything you have done contradicts this! I have seen the was you hunger for combat! You take pleasure in creating death! Your constant talk of bloody vengeance, your cold disregard for your own people! You heard the women in the Brothel as clearly as I did and yet you turned away!"

I crossed my arms and looked at him with the most venomous glance I could muster, though I felt something within me tremble when, even from afar, I saw something in his eyes break.

"But I came back." he called, ´"I came back!" And then, though perhaps my ears were deceiving me, I had the slightest suspicion that I heard a very quiet whisper follow those words. "For you…"

But what did it matter, his return, when now I had seen his true face, his true form? I didn't waver, I didn't give into the idealistic belief that perhaps there was some truth in his words. Even if there was, I couldn't believe one who had almost given into anger and rage, who had little control over his own darkness.

I needed to get away.

"You are a prince in title only." I said grimly, pointing an accusing finger at him, "Go and reclaim your throne! But know this…you do so alone."

Dashing away, without looking back, I hoped that now, I had finally escaped him, that he would leave me alone, that I wouldn't have to keep running. His transformation and his words both had affected me greatly and I needed some time alone now. For a time, I actually abandoned my quest to save people… for a time. I found myself an empty building where I could rest for a moment and perhaps find some more food or water.

I entered the building and quickly sat down on the nearest intact piece of furniture. I took deep breaths and tried to relax. Had I overreacted? Surely not. He had kept this from me, the knowledge of what he was, and that could only mean that he had things to hide from me.

_Or that he was afraid that you would react this way… _

I bit my lip. Somehow, this second possible explanation seemed logical as well. after all, everyone would react the way I did if they found out that their friend and ally was some kind of monster. Yet I believed that he could have told me, that I would have been strong enough…

_Or you just don't want to admit that you would react as a weak person… or you just want to convince yourself that the first explanation is the only correct one… _

Shaking my head, I sighed deeply. He had, after all, returned. He had shown that there was still some hope for him… and at the moment I had chosen to trust him, he had shattered that trust with this terrible revelation.

_Yet why have I reacted so impulsively? _I asked myself, _Why does it matter if he hasn't told me this if I am ready to accept that despite his initial cruelty, he is willing to change?_

I had no answer, which disturbed me. And then, at that precise moment, the little voice within my head found one which wasn't at all to my liking.

_Perhaps because emotion clouds your judgment and takes your reactions to the extreme. _

I frowned. I had to sort out my own feelings. What was present? Anger, a sense of betrayal, sadness reaching despair… and affection. My eyes widened. Affection? What for? There was absolutely no need for it? Yet it was there, I couldn't lie to myself. Affection on a platonical degree up till some point, I guess, but from my very reaction, I was able to deduce that I had overreacted too much to consider it that much… or that little.

I stood up abruptly. If anything, I couldn't keep sitting here. And perhaps… if I would observe him from afar, unnoticed, I could get answers and I wouldn't have to judge him through my clouded gaze. I gathered my bow and more arrows I found lying around. I had to find him again, I had to reach him. With him, I had a chance.

Darting out of the door, I prayed that there was still time to put aside petty quarrels for the greater good.

_If you believe so._ Something within me said.

And I did.


	8. the Race

Heya everyone! After a month in England and then a few days of relaxing and getting used to being back home, I decided to replay PoP and continue this story. I might update the Creator sometime, but this is the story I'd really like to finish.

Anyway, if you cheer for me with a few more reviews, the story should be completed pretty soon.

So… review, please!

EDIT: This would have been posted a few days ago, but FF had some problems, apparently...

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**  
the Race  
**

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To say that I ran is a crude understatement.

I dashed through the city, not caring about saving my strength for later fights. I encountered only one small patrol and that was dealt with within a few seconds. I knew, however, that the closer I would get to the Prince, the more dead patrols I would encounter. I had to pick up his trail somehow, so I had to return to the place where I escaped him. However, upon arriving there, the door remained closed to me.

I frowned. Where could the Prince have gone?

The route he had taken would probably be impossible for me to follow. While I was swift and agile, I couldn't perform the acrobatic feats he could. My strengths lied elsewhere, thus I had to utilize them. With that thought in mind, I returned to the balconies. It was the swiftest and most guard-free route he could have taken, I believed, thus it would be a good idea to follow them.

Bypassing the nearby gardens, which I recognized due to the tall palm trees, I continued my journey through the city. It seemed that there was no one left to defend Babylon now, but us, which hastened my steps. And then, behind the gardens, I saw smoke rising to the sky. Dark, thick, not like vapor or mist at all. Something was burning there…

I took the swiftest route there. Prince or no, I had to see what new devilry that was. Finding ladders and ropes took me a while – I prefer ladders, I'm a very slow and uncertain climber when it comes to ropes or chains or pillars.

What I saw made me gasp, despite myself. A whole workshop, filled with innocent people, burning. It would be a matter of minutes before the roof would collapse and bury all of them in the fire. Then, there would be no escape.

And there was nothing I could do. I was standing upon a balcony with no possible way to reach the ground, or the warehouse.

Taking a few shallow breaths, I remained standing there, frozen. And then, looking away to ease the pain within me somewhat, I saw another balcony, far away, yet close enough to reach the building… and there, a towering pitch-black figure with strange marks upon its torso, rather like liquid gold… or sand…

"PRINCE!" I screamed, attempting to somehow get his attention.

But my cry never reached him – I was too exhausted to yell that much. Besides, had I thought rationally, I would have known that it wasn't humanly possible for a scream like mine to overrun the cries of the dying people in the warehouse, the flames, the fighting and the distance between us.

But almost as if my call had awakened something within him, he began moving and disappeared out of my sight for a long time. I couldn't move. I had to see whether he was going to do something about the workshop, because I couldn't. I couldn't do anything and he could… it was time to see if any of my pleas and commands and doubts had changed the dark part of him.

Mind you, it didn't mean I trusted him yet, but I was willing to give him a chance, to see, remaining unnoticed, whether there was any truth to what he had said.

Minutes passed slowly like days. I was gripping the railing with such a force it might have broken. And then, all of a sudden, I jumped back, because the wall of the workshop closest to me broke down with a tremendous force. A gigantic statue of the king went through it and collapsed. And then, people, small figures, as little as ants compared to the stone statue, surfaced from the building. I held my breath, though deep down, I probably knew what would happen. And indeed, last of all came the Prince, human-looking once more, supporting an elderly woman as she descended the steps of stone.

The sounds of the fire obscured the words an old man was telling the rest of the crowd and I couldn't see much, due to the smoke, but I saw general awe and surprise pass through the crowd, directed at their savior. Suddenly, I felt a slight smile pass through my lips. For all the ill that had happened, for whatever darkness he had gone through, here came a change, a turn of the tide. Light resurfacing.

At that precise moment, causing me to jump back, a carriage broke through the mass, with an immense sand creature guiding the horses with brutal force. Without hesitation, the Prince broke away from the crowds and sprang atop the nearest carriage, heading after the monster.

And I, what was I to do?

The rooftops I needed were there, heading in the direction the carriages took. It wasn't a matter of choice. Within seconds, I was springing after the carriages and when I eventually fell behind, inevitably, I continued retracing the tracks of the wheels, the imprints of the horses´ hooves… and, easiest of all, the corpses of the guards that had attempted to board the Prince's carriage.

I feared I had lost track of them for a moment. The tracks just seemed to… vanish. And then I heard something sinister. Rather like the sound of weaponry. But it was coming from within one of the buildings. I had no time to hesitate and a convenient entrance nearby. What I saw within was truly astonishing.

The building itself was thoroughly destroyed from the inside, but it formed a truly ghastly interior of ruins. The walls were broken down… but it wasn't dark inside. A ring of fire flashed on the ground, effectively isolating and illuminating three figures within it. Two of them were towering creatures of sand, with gargantuan weapons – a sword and an axe, both probably bigger than me. Needless to say, they were terrifying due to sheer size. And in the middle, carefully avoiding the assault of powerful blows, was a smaller figure, but one more familiar to me.

How the Prince had gotten himself into such a mess I had no idea and didn't really have time to think about. He was too close to the monsters and kept jumping around – I couldn't be certain I wouldn't hit him with an arrow if I tried.

But the terrible sight continued only for a moment. Somehow, the Prince managed to deliver a series of acrobatic feats that enabled him to slay the sword-armed warrior. It happened almost too quickly for me to notice. But as the Prince sprang away from the two sand monsters, one of which dissolved into sand almost at once, I saw he was panting, exhausted.

If there was time to think, I didn't use it. All I knew was that I was aiming my arrow at the remaining sand creature, which let out a deafening roar and leapt into the air, axe high, ready to slash the Prince in half. At the same time, it left its torso completely unprotected. I fired.

The power of the shot struck the creature and threw it backwards, sending the axe flying, fortunately, away from the Prince. Without hesitation, I loaded the bow again, just in case. The creature roared, but it was the cry of a dying beast. It was finished, I knew.

Ignoring the height or that something more foul might still attack, I jumped down to the ground level, landing several feet away from the Prince, who seemed to be grateful, despite his clear surprise that, after seeing what I had seen, I had returned. To tell the truth… I didn't really know why I had returned, other than that I had been too rash in my judgment.

"It seems I chose the right moment to return." I said, attempting to brush off the awkwardness and the fact that I owed him an apology.

"Thank you." he said simply.

I nodded, looking away, still attempting to be formal and indifferent to our last encounter. "We should move on I'm sure more are on the way."

The fire, fortunately, seemed to go out rather quickly, so we had the chance to leave the building through one of the many openings caused by the bombardment. Once out of that wretched place, we had to move carefully again. In a silent agreement, we probably agreed that we wouldn't be mentioning the past again. Thus our progress through the city was mostly silent, that is, until we reached a large plaza.

"Be on your guard." The Prince said to me quietly, going first.

"I always am." I replied, my bow loaded, looking above, just to be certain.

The moonlit city we entered was beautiful, but thoroughly lifeless. There was something strange about the empty streets, something eerie and suspicious. I had a very bad feeling about it. True, a city that has been conquered might look lifeless… but not this dead. The Prince, sharing my sentiments, knelt, touched the ground, and after a moment, felt that our suspicions were not unfounded.

"RUN!" he shouted, and I obeyed, now fully aware of the trembling of the ground, of the sound of heavy running from behind us.

We ran as fast as we could, and I could hear more and more pursuers joining in from behind. There was no avoiding them, it seemed, for they rushed out of all directions, surrounding is, making it impossible to flee. I aimed my bow, but knew that fighting was impossible. I felt the Prince standing back-to-back with me, also ready to fight, no matter how desperate and foolish the situation might have seemed.

Death would not bring us down without a proper fight.

And then, into the hopeless darkness, an aged voice spoke with surprising volume and vitality.

"All hail the Prince of Persia! The greatest hero the land has ever known!"

My eyes darted to the direction where the shout was coming from and I was momentarily overcome. A huge crowd of people, armed with whatever weapons they could find – shields made of broken wooden roofs, handmade spears, swords taken from corpses – was standing there, cheering for their sovereign, ready to sacrifice their lives in a battle against the immortal beasts surrounding us. "

You have saved the people of this city!" the old man, like a general marshalling his army, continued. "And we have come to repay the favor!"

With a thunderous cheer, loud enough to even obscure the rough noises of the sand creature army, the citizens charged forward, raising their weapons, colliding with the mass of sand ahead of them.

The Prince and I managed to escape from the enclosure, but we got separated by the crowds. I was shooting arrows as fast as I could, but still taking care not to exhaust my supply. With the corner of my eye, I spotted the Prince briefly, making his way to something through the crowd. Then, I lost him again and was too preoccupied to look again.

After a moment, however, I saw him again… rushing away from the battle. I realized that he must have reached someone, presumably the old man, reminding him that there was no chance that the citizens of Babylon would defeat this massive army. However, the old man probably knew this, that they would provide more than a sufficient diversion and the Prince wouldn't have an entire army chasing after him for a while.

Hesitation was out of the question. I took off after him immediately, running up the stairs, only a few paces behind. A set of heavy, hasty steps followed me, thus I turned, as quickly as possible, and swiftly fired an arrow at the approaching sand creature.

The Prince cut a rope that held the heavy gate dividing a small courtyard at a remote palace entrance from the piazza. Running as fast as I could, I managed to get in just in time.

At the foot of the Tower of Babylon, our ascent was about to begin.


	9. the Fall

After so long, I overcame my newfound obsession with "Beauty and the Beast" and replayed WW. That reminded me that this story needed a new chapter!

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**  
Chapter 9 – the Fall**

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The gate smashed closed behind us and I ran straight ahead, certain that the Prince was at my side. But the sounds of angry noises – Sand Creatures, no doubt – alerted me to the fact that he had stopped. I turned around at once, but the door slammed shut in my face. I attempted to get it open angrily, but to no avail. Typical, I thought. This just has to happen to me. Slamming my fist at the door, I heard the Prince call to me that he would get the door opened in a moment. Giving up, I turned around and went to explore the corridors I had entered.

Apparently, this was an important part of the palace surroundings – I entered a large hall with high walls, a strange device in the center. But I recognized the designs almost immediately. It was simply magnificent. I had never dreamed that I would be able to see a device so marvelous while fighting for my life and the fate of two empires.

"Incredible!" I couldn't help but breathing the word, wide eyed. I noticed that the Prince appeared on one of the balconies a floor above me, apparently unharmed. "I have only heard of such marvels, but to see one up close…Is there not a similar device in Azad?" I asked, never having been in the fabled city myself.

The Prince, however, seemed to be more interested in practical things, such as the destination and functionality of the life. "This lift will bring us to the throne room." He said pragmatically, a sarcastic and bitter tone creeping into his voice as he continued. "But wonder of wonders, it seems to have stopped working. I will try to bring it back to life." were his last words before vanishing in the balconies.

I took that as my cue to enter the lift, looking around eagerly. "I do hope to visit Azad one day." I whispered, examining the interior of the cabin. Within moments, I felt a pull and I looked out of the cabin to see that it had left the ground. but I wasn't afraid. I had been expecting – and hoping for – this.

I was watching the Prince progress upwards as a quiet whisper of words I wasn't able to decipher came to me.

"What?" I asked, presuming that he had said something to me.

"I said I'm sorry!" the Prince said, more clearly and loudly. "I never apologized…for the way I acted, for the things I said…for who I was…"

While I appreciated this, I knew it would be unfair to continue this. As hard as it was, I knew that… "I owe you an apology as well." I admitted, looking down for a moment. "It was wrong of me to accuse you of such terrible things."

"But I _have_ done terrible things!"

"We all make mistakes, Prince." I said, shaking my head, tracing his movements again. The elevator moved again. "The difference is that you've accepted yours." I paused, but I felt that this apology wasn't enough to express my relief… and perhaps give an explanation as to how come I managed to find him. "I saw what you did at the factory, and if what the Old Man said is true, then you are a Prince."

I took a step back as he leapt towards the cabin of the elevator, which was high above the ground by now. Naturally, he made it, and swiftly climbed up the ledge, straightening up as the lift began to move once more. It was an awkward moment as we both looked different ways, clearly unwilling to acknowledge the apology that had been far from face-to-face. then, a thought came to me.

Somehow, he seemed to know much about me. But I knew very little about him. Actually, save for his name, I knew next to nothing about him. And I hadn't used it because it seemed slightly too personal. Just as he seldom used mine. There had never been the time to actually talk with all the battle and death around us. But now was a semi-tranquil moment… and I found myself unable to contain the first question that came to my mind.

"What is your favorite color?" I blurted out, looking at him suddenly.

The question startled him, apparently, because he turned to look at me with clear surprise and confusion. However, as the meaning of it entered his mind, he gave me a look that questioned my sanity… or, more likely, my judgment when it came to timing of random questions.

"Color?" he asked, with mild contempt and surprise.

I simply couldn't resist. "Shall I repeat the question?" I asked calmly.

For a moment, it seemed that he was going to snap back with one of his semi-witty comments and start another verbal fight. And then, throwing his arms up, as if to mean he was giving up, he said: "Blue." There was another pause before he said what he probably meant to say originally. "What is the point of this?"

"Must every conversation we have be so serious?" I explained with a small frown. "I know so little about you."

"Very well." Did this mean I won? "What is your favorite food?"

"The pomegranate of course." I said, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. Actually, I thought it was.

But the Prince shook his head. "I do not like pomegranates."

Now that caught my attention. "What's wrong with you?"

" They are messy, impossible to eat with dignity. Too much work for a few seeds." But he had lightened up slightly, I saw that. His tone wasn't so dark anymore.

I smiled. "But is it not the effort that makes them that much sweeter?" Understand, there was no implication under that remark. Nevertheless, he gave me a strange look and was spared the need to answer by the fact that the lift suddenly came to a halt in a garden-like area.

"What is this place?" I asked, awed, as I left the lift. These were gardens, all right, but strange gardens, where the walls seemed to be pumping life into the very plant life here.

"It is the heart of the hanging gardens." The Prince explained to me, looking around with a distant fondness. "These are the instruments of life, regulating and running everything."

I spotted the way we could go and immediately took off towards the tunnel. I wanted to shout that the way was clear, but then I heard a sound behind me, a familiar sound. And as I turned, I realized I had heard it before. The closing of bars. I tried to leap past them, but I wasn't quick enough. I was trapped. And then, I heard another familiar sound. From the ground, two scantily clad figures of women rose, carrying two curved dagger-like weapons.

"Prince! Watch out!" I yelled, trying to at least help him with a few arrows. But as I saw him raise his weapons, I heard a raspy shout behind me and the sound of heavy boots. I turned around in a heartbeat and fired an arrow towards the closest of the three Sand Guards that came running towards me.

It his him straight in the face the reduced him to a pile of dust. The other two hesitated for a moment, allowing me to shoot another one in the chest and in the eye. the third one swung its sword at me. I sidestepped, leapt back in a series of back-flips, aiming my bow at him again, shooting another arrow. Those three were dealt with. I hurried towards the bars again, to see if the Prince was all right, but he and the two Sand Creatures were gone.

My only exit was the other end of the tunnel, to which I made my way quickly. I knew now how fast the Prince moved, so I had to keep up with him. The tunnel, I discovered, lead upward… and soon I found myself at least two floors above the ground. reaching a drawbridge, I looked around and saw the Prince a floor below me, at one end of the area in which's center I was. He gestured to the way he wanted to go, but couldn't. there was an open shutter there.

I bit my lip as I looked down. there were Sand Creatures below us, there was no way to proceed or regroup. I drew an arrow. Perhaps the shutter was just stuck, I prayed, and an arrow in the right place would be able to fix that. I aimed the arrow at one of the shutter's mechanisms and fired, watching the progress of the shot. The small stick that was the arrow vanished from my sight into the night, but I saw the shutter close, a little too noisily for my liking.

By the time I looked at where the Prince had been standing, he was gone again, a floor lower than he had been before. It took him about three minutes to progress to a spot only a meter or two below me, where I finally managed to reach him.

"What was he like? Your father." I asked, curious. I knew little of Sharaman.

The Prince looked at me a bit sadly, but immediately said: "He is a good man." And at once, he corrected himself. "No…a great man. Strong, loyal, kind…forgiving."

but there was guilt and sadness in his expression as he looked down. "What is it?"

"I-" he hesitated, but didn't stop his explanation, "that is to say we- we did not part on the best of terms. It was many years ago. I was young and full of pride, full of fear as well. He offered to listen, but I could not find the word, would not find them. And I only hope that I might find him once more, to say that… I am sorry."

I attempted to nod or to show my sentiments in some other way. But it seemed that I simply couldn't. I knew I was only beginning to see the whole concept of what he had been through during his long exile and what kind of burden weighted him down. hope had been rekindled in his heart only to be crushed by this invasion. I felt sorry for him.

"But this is a story for another time." The Prince interrupted his own narrative, shooing away bad memories. "Surrounded by such sadness, we should not succumb to it ourselves. Moving to the matter at hand, I cannot get to you from where I am."

I nodded, drawing another arrow. "I can close another shutter, then. Let us regroup ahead." The shutter closed, perhaps slightly more quietly.

However, as the Prince descended and dispatched the Sand Creatures and shut the sand portal they had been guarding, he looked up, knowing what I knew.

"There is still no way for me to get to you." He called, "However, you can reach the palace from where you stand. And I can pass through the greenhouse. That will certainly bring us to the same location."

I nodded, though I was uneasy about this parting. "Be careful, Prince." I said before turning away from the edge of the balcony and walking towards the exit.

My route was surprisingly quiet, but I progressed slowly and soundlessly, bow ever at the ready. However, no one stopped or attacked me and I reached a pair of high double doors without any kind of problems. But I stopped short behind them – there was no way to cross the circular abyss before me. I had to wait for the Prince to come here. I saw the rest of the gardens ahead of me and there had been another tunnel I had avoided while getting here.

Sure enough, the Prince arrived minutes later, raising the platform thanks to a system of platforms and switches. I smiled briefly as I walked towards him, but suddenly, a sound caused me to tense. It was rather like… the whoosh of air, but it was thoroughly unnatural.

At the precise moment that I wanted to turn around to investigate the source of the noise, I was roughly grabbed from behind and lifted off my feet. The arms that held me were strangely pale and most certainly human, but the rest of the body I attempted to kick against was abnormally hard, like a protective shield, and not at all human-shaped. the Prince stopped short, drawing his dagger and a sword.

"Do not take another step!" a terribly familiar voice with an abnormal tinge of a thunderous sound commanded from behind me. I struggled even more, attempting to throw the traitor off me. So close and I couldn't hurt him. It felt like being part of a stone statue that wouldn't budge.

"I'm impressed you made it passed my little welcome party." Zurvan continued from next to my ear. "Impressed, but also quite annoyed. You have robbed me of my strongest allies. It would be unfair of me not to return the favor." A cool hand came to stroke my cheek and I felt thoroughly repulsed. I attempted to bite the hand, but he tightened his grip around my waist and I couldn't muster the energy. "Farah will make an excellent queen. Fit for a god. Although, we will need to make a few…modifications."

Certainly my face was now turning white due to lack of air as the Prince shouted: "Let her go!"

Zurvan only laughed and then I felt my body collide with the terribly hard marble of the ledge. I was slightly bruised, but nothing that I couldn't survive. "You act as if you have a say in the matter!" I heard the Prince attempt to rush forward as Zurvan let out a stream of spells in the ancient language I have so often heard him use. Sounds of stone crumbling… a fall… and a taunting shout: "Say hello to your father!"

I managed to support myself with my unhurt right arm and raise my head. I was at the edge of the abyss again, but still safely away from falling. Again, I felt arms snake around my waist, lifting me from the ground, but without the roughness of the previous attempt. On the contrary, this time, it would have seemed that I was a glass doll that could break at the slightest pressure. Still in pain, I attempted to kick, since my arms were pressed to my body. All my attempts to release myself were to no avail, even as my captor turned me to face him.

I believe I gasped. His eyes were like those of the Prince when he was transformed – golden like the sands, without pupils, just pools of gold. He had no hair on his head or face, his skin was bleached to a soft beige color that looked thoroughly abnormal, save for a few red markings on his face. But his body was no longer that of an old hermit – rather, he was similar in built to the Prince, muscular, young-looking, agile. However, below the waist, he was no longer human, more like an overgrown scarab, golden and beetle-like. He had wings that supported him in the air effortlessly. And he was studying me with a mildly amused expression.

"Hello, Princess." He said in a voice softer than the one he had used with the Prince. However, it was still chillingly inhuman. "It has been far too long. I'm glad that the time you spent in prison hasn't done you any lasting harm. And now look what a glorious future awaits you! Life eternal as a goddess and the rule over the world as a queen."

"I should rather the prison." I hissed, attempting to recover and hide whatever chills were rushing through me. "You expect me to love you after what you've done to me? You're more of a fool than I thought!"

"Time can get you used to anything, Farah." He said in a soft whisper, smiling at me, with a hint of superiority. "And I have all the time in the world to wait for you to get used to your new position. What else is left for you? Do you really think your little princeling could have survived that fall? This is the Well of Ancestors. He will be dead before he ever reaches the bottom."

Fear overcame me. I realized that no matter how he had betrayed us all, he was telling the pure truth. No mortal could have survived that fall. I didn't even see the bottom of the pit. And I, captured – what was I to do? If the Prince was dead, only I could stop Zurvan. And I got myself captured. Just great.

"I hate you." I whispered, but ceased to struggle.

"Hate is passion." Zurvan said, "So I am satisfied. After your transformation, you will see everything in a different light. And the negative part of your passion for me might vanish. In time." the wicked thing was that it could actually be true. "Now, I hope you aren't afraid of heights, _dearest bride_."

Before I could question him, we were high in the air.


	10. the Zenith

This took the longest time, I know, I know but… the suspense! And I had no ideas, no time… just the damned school!! But I promise that this is the final chapter and that the ending is satisfying…. (runs from a bunch of angry readers)

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**Chapter 9 – the Zenith**

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I didn't even have the sense to scream.

Far too quickly… far too easily, we were rising into the air, without the usual limitations of humans. Then again, in his present incarnation, I suppose that the laws of nature didn't apply to Zurvan as much as they did before. But all I could do was stare at the gaping maw below me, the empty space into which he might choose to drop me at any moment.

But I didn't cling to him either. There came a limpness, caused by the shock, a kind of paralysis passed through my body. I became a simple burden which he carried upward. I suppose that after the initial shock, the fact that we were rising constantly ceased to trouble me that much. Babylon was becoming a little model of a city below us and I understood then that our destination was the palace.

However, my captor didn't carry me to the throne room or the palace rooms itself – instead, we entered the top of the gardens, the area with some fountains and loads of plants. The private rooftop garden of the palace, if you will. And there, in the middle of a tower, we finally started to descend.

The circular tower was primarily empty, probably used for private meals at times of peace. Now, however, I saw that it was to be my prison. A niche where a triumphant statue of Inanna, Ishtar, should have stood – there he placed me, meters above the ground, and uttered another curse or spell, I couldn't tell which one anymore. Just as I realized that now was perhaps the time to try to escape, I felt the slight scratching of sand around my ankles and wrists. I attempted to pry them free, but the manacles around them were more real than I imagined. Struggling, I attempted again and again, to no avail.

"Do not worry, Princess. This won't hurt… too much." The traitor said to me after securing my in my manacles. I couldn't even move my arms or legs, let alone escape. How was I to avoid being transformed into a Sand Monster? And, better yet, would I be able to destroy him once transformed? I didn't know. But I knew one thing for certain.

Whatever I could do, I had to do it quickly.

Zurvan began preparing his magic for my transformation and all I did was struggle against the manacles until, finally, I gave up after a few minutes. They were tight and quite immune against whatever strength I had.

I was about to give up hope of avoiding a twisted transformation into something vile. After all, what hope was there? I was trapped, desperately outmatched… and worse, all alone. As much as I hated admitting it, I would have really appreciated a rescue. And if it would take place right about now would be really wonderful.

I looked away from the former Vizier, attempting to gather my wits. And just then, I saw it. The hole in the middle of the arena-like room had been filled – a platform had been raised and upon it… I didn't dare believe my eyes.

Zurvan was oblivious to the disruption. "Now, where did I put those books?"

A breath caught in my throat. I knew the figure standing mere meters below, ready for a final attempt at ending this nightmare. And I knew, ultimately, from the look on his face, that he had at last decided what is best for his people and for him. That meant that there was still time for my, hopefully not final, words.

I made my first ever attempt at a husky voice, because I had no idea how else a seductive tone should sound. "Zurvan?"

fortunately, it drew his attention. He flew a bit closer to me, hovering at my side like an oversized scarab. "What is it my dear?" Make that a very oversized scarab that attempted something he clearly viewed as a kind, smooth voice.

Overcoming my revulsion, my hatred for a moment, I dared to act a little longer. "In case I don't get the chance again…" It was frightening and slightly sickening to see him close his eyes slightly, with the clear anticipation of a kiss. But how in the world could he have assumed that I would give in so easily, that I would betray all I stand for just to save my own life?

I would die before doing that, for certain.

Without a second's hesitation, my anger returning, stronger now that it had been suppressed forcibly, I spat in his face without a second thought. It wasn't what he had been expecting, to say at least, and he recoiled at once, flaring up in anger.

"You impudent pig!" he roared at me, but I looked away. "I offer you life eternal and this is how you respond?!" Yes. "Oh, I shall enjoy changing you." But at last, it occurred to him that we were being watched, and he turned in midair easily. I almost spat at him again, but it wouldn't have been as satisfying as when he had been facing me, believing me to be surrendering.

"Hello Prince." He said with mock indulgence. "Not quite the homecoming you expected."

Again, I began to struggle with the manacles, moving them about as much as I could move the palace itself, watching the battle taking place in front of me intently nonetheless. The Prince had a new sword of some kind, a rather elegant weapon, so I didn't suppose he had simply taken it from some sand guard. Then again, I remembered Zurvan´s final words to him as he was falling into the well…

"You will pay for what you have done to my people." I heard the Prince say as the Vizier rose up into the air to throw pieces of the architecture at him, which the Prince successfully dodged thanks to his agility.

"Done to them? Things will be better now."

"They live among mindless monsters enslaved by your will!"

"It is the price of progress."

Returning once more to the ground to resume the fight, Zurvan appeared to have trouble striking the Prince, who, in his quickness, was managing to block the attacks quite well. Admittedly Zurvan wasn't able to vanish out of his sight that easily; all he could do was rise into the air once more, throwing the stones at him until finally, he broke apart the upper walls, creating orbits of rubble around the Prince. At the first moment, I was afraid I would have to cover, but the stones landed safely away from me.

"Quick and clever!" Zurvan said, hurling what seemed to be a ball of his own energy at him, which the Prince barely dodged. "You would have made a fine addition to my army. But your corpse will have to suffice."

The Prince hesitated several times in his attempts to get past the debris and to the Vizier. Once, the stones even managed to hit him, causing him to be thrown back slightly. A slight cry came from my throat, but the Prince was back on his feet soon, managing to leap up and flip back from the nearest wall, landing on top of Zurvan himself. What he intended to do became clear a second later. The Prince leapt into the air again and, with all his might, sliced off one of Zurvan´s beetle-like wings.

The former Vizier let out a cry of pain as the prince landed on the ground in the center of the arena again. Now more cautious, Zurvan attempted to be quicker and make the stones rotate faster too, but the Prince struck him twice again, slicing off the other wing and, finally, plunging the glowing sword he had held in his left hand into Zurvan´s chest.

The rubble rose up along with Zurvan, who appeared to be deeply wounded, but able to survive. He rose high, higher than any human could reach, apparently intent on healing himself somehow before resuming the battle. The Prince, however, was quicker than that.

Speedily, he managed to ascend upon the rubble, avoiding another energy ball… barely. He managed to reach the top where the treacherous Zurvan was, drained of most of his energy. The Prince leapt into the air, ignoring whatever laws nature upheld, knowing that this was the moment of destiny.

The Dagger of Time, which the Vizier had so desired… the Prince stabbed it into his heart, close to the sword.

Zurvan and the Prince, along with the rubble, came crashing down, but the Vizier was able to stop their descend rapidly before they crashed.

"This is not what the Dagger promised!" Zurvan shrieked in a voice much more like that of the old man he really was.

The Prince didn't say a word. He ripped the Dagger from his chest, stepping back. Twisting, screaming, the Vizier, Zurvan, exploded in a cloud of Sand, apparently and hopefully forever. Just as he vanished, the manacles holding me captive lifted. I didn't hesitate a moment. I had had enough of standing around like a statue. Immediately, I leapt to the ground, landing near the Prince, who took a step towards me to see if I was all right.

But something else had caught our attention.

The Sands that had possessed the armies below us were now floating through the air, free of their corporeal forms, and a cheer rose from Babylon. But all the Sand seemed to be flowing towards us, to the Dagger.

And yet not to the Dagger.

Mere paces away from us, the Sands centered themselves again to form another human-like form. I was almost afraid that our plan had backfired, until I saw that the shape was unlike any Sand Creature I had ever seen. It was slender, with a figure close to mine, slim. I saw the outline of full breasts and as the head was formed out of the Sand, with long hair flying around it like a flame, I saw that the creature was in fact a woman whose face was pleasant, smiling, as if nothing had happened at all…

We stood back, the Prince and I, and a strange sad look crossed his face. But the woman continued smiling and then said in a soft voice: "This world is not meant for me. But there are others, and I will find my place, just as you have found yours."

She raised her hand, the apparition, and with one motion, the daggertail that had been cut deep into the Prince's arm fell down to the ground with a clicking sound, leaving no trace of a wound behind. We could only marvel.

Then, the figure held out her arms, waiting a moment. And the Prince realized it. She wanted the Dagger. The Dagger was as much a part of her as the rest of the Sands had been. But her face held no malice and the Prince handed her the weapon without hesitation. The moment it touched her arms and he let go of it, the blade that had brought us such sorrows vanished in a ray of light, melting into her.

"Be free now Prince." the woman said peacefully, "Your journey is at an end."

Her figure arched into a spiral, as if turning towards the horizon, her hair spinning around her. The Sands that had formed her outline were swept away by the wind…. But there was no wind and the grains of Sand, flickering a golden color, vanished entirely.

It was over.

"What is it?"

But the Prince didn't seem to realize it as he bent down as if to retrieve something.

Without warning, without any sign of what had happened, the Prince dropped to the ground, as if he had been knocked out. I gasped and immediately dropped down next to him, attempting to shake him, wake him any way I could. This couldn't end like that, for certain… and his face seemed twisted in pain or anger, as if something was happening. I didn't know.

"Wake up, please!" I cried, shaking him by the shoulders, to no avail. But he had saved me, thus he had to give me a chance to do the same. "Wake up. Wake up!"

And slowly, he did. "Farah?" he asked groggily, as if awakening from a deep slumber.

"Are you alright?" I asked, troubled. But as he sat up, the shadow seemed to have vanished from his face… it was as if he had shaken off several years of pain.

"I think…I think it's finally over." He said slowly, with a disbelief in his voice that was mingled with relief.

My breathing eased and I sighed in relief, smiling for the first time in… quite a long time. there would be no more battles this day… and while it would take a long time before our kingdoms would be restored and the two thrones secure again, it was easy to see that a friendship between our realms had been formed today, a friendship that would last for quite some time…

With a slight discomfort, I realized that the allegiance would be best confirmed and made public by marriage – something that I had been trying to avoid all my life. But after this adventure, something told me that marriage would be like a walk – easy, not troubling… as long as I would find the right person to spend it with. With a brief glance at the Prince, I resumed my watch of the sunset, which was quite pleasing at the moment.

Yes, I decided. I would seriously consider his marriage proposal, once it would be made, that is… no, I would most likely accept it. After all, even the few days of hardship we had endured counted as years in my mind, and we had come to know each other as we might not have during years of peace.

And then I remembered.

"Prince?" he turned his attention to me, surprised by my frown. "There's still something I don't understand." I smiled, but I was determined to find out the truth. "How did you _really_ know my name?"

The Prince, apparently having expected a trickier question, smiled mysteriously at that, brushing one of the runaway strands of hair from my face.

"Most people think time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction." His explanation began as if it were a line that he had been preparing to say for the longest time, but couldn't find the time or place. However, I listened intensely, wondering what this might have to do with the way he came to know my name… and if the fact that he had taken my hand meant that our bickering was gone with the war. "But I have seen the face of Time, and I can tell you…they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I am, and why I say this. Come…and I will tell you a tale like none you have ever heard…"

Kakolookiyam.

A door to a new beginning had been opened.

X X X

_Finis_

X X X

I would like to thank you all for reading and reviewing. I love PoP, this has been a pleasure to write, and a wonderful experience. Hopefully, there will be more such games in the future.

Peace out

Zerbinetta


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